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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27571573">New Neighbor (LuNa)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LissyArt101/pseuds/LissyArt101'>LissyArt101</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>New Neighbors (One Piece Fanfic) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abuse, Action &amp; Romance, Additional Warnings Apply, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Blood, Blood Loss, Blood and Gore, Broken Bones, Crime Fighting, Escape, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Fun, Funny, Gen, Humor, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Imprisonment, Long, Luffy Being Luffy, Modern Era, Neighbors, Novel, Oranges, Pain, Past Abuse, Romance, Self-Destruction, Self-Harm, Self-Sacrifice, Self-Worth, Self-Worth Issues, Suspense, Warnings May Change, basically a novel, entertaining, excited, gruesome, lengthy, playful</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:47:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>99,151</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27571573</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LissyArt101/pseuds/LissyArt101</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nami is upset that her sister is moving out, leaving her all alone, however, a new neighbor moves into the house nextdoor, and has some mysteries of his own. Nami's got to find the right way to go about things or everything's going to tumble downhill.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Charlotte Pudding/Vinsmoke Sanji, Franky/Nico Robin, Kaya/Usopp (One Piece), Monkey D. Luffy &amp; Nami, Monkey D. Luffy/Nami, Nico Robin/Roronoa Zoro</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>New Neighbors (One Piece Fanfic) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2073390</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>103</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Modern AUs, One Piece</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Neighbor</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is my first modern au fanfic, please don't hate.<br/>Find me on tumblr! https://lissyart101.tumblr.com/</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p>
<p>"Hold up! Run that by me again?" An orange haired girl exclaimed, setting down her cup of orange juice on the table on a deck overlooking an orange orchard.</p>
<p>"I'm moving." The other woman, with short slight blue hair, at the table responded, smiling, as if it was the most exciting thing in the world.</p>
<p>"Where?" the orange haired girl asked.</p>
<p>"Back to Cocoyashi, Nami. Gen needs my help repairing mom's orchard since she's ill. You seem to be doing alright here, with your orchard, so I'm going to go back to help out." the short haired woman stated, still smiling.</p>
<p>"How long?"</p>
<p>"Until mom is better," she frowned, "but to be honest, I have kind of wanted to move back home for a while now."</p>
<p>"Nojiko, you can't do this to me!" Nami exclaimed, standing swiftly, "You only moved in with me last year, and now that Vivi has moved out of her house, because she got new job in Alabasta, I have nobody here!"</p>
<p>"You can move back with me." Nojiko reasoned.</p>
<p>"Not happening, do you know how much of a fortune I make here?"</p>
<p>"Money, again?" Nojiko hummed, unamused.</p>
<p>"Look, as much as I'd love, and I mean love, to move back with you, I have this orchard here."</p>
<p>"You won't be alone for long though, I heard that someone is buying Vivi's old flat." Nojiko stated, gesturing off in the direction of a nice house barely visible behind the orange trees.</p>
<p>"That doesn't help." Nami frowned, and slumped back in her chair.</p>
<p>"You can always see if it's Sanji," Nojiko smiled, "I heard from Robin that he's going to be moving in closer to be able to make the commute easier to the Baratie."</p>
<p>"Not sure I'd like Sanji as my neighbor, though."</p>
<p>"Well Robin's apartment is only a ten minute drive away, though she's busy with archeology often, or in the library. Alabasta is at least a half hour drive, but its not that far from Saboady."</p>
<p>"I don't have a working car at the moment." Nami responded, frowning, or else I'd be going to see Robin and Vivi more often."</p>
<p>"Calm down, Nami, I'll still come and visit you, I promise." Nojiko smiled, as if that solved the problem.</p>
<p>Nami still didn't like it, but she'd settle for now. It wasn't really all that bad, she was just being petty. People were moving, things were changing, and she did not like it. After her sister officially moved out, since it took her about two weeks to get everything, and she'd stay occasionally until it was all gone, she saw a moving van coming up to the neighboring house that Vivi had moved out of. She sighed, and tried glancing over the orange trees from her balcony, to see who was moving into that house.</p>
<p>Fortunately, it wasn't Sanji, but unfortunately, it wasn't Sanji, because she was sure she'd notice someone who stands out like him, not to mention how he tends to fawn over her. Most of the people looked like movers, in all honesty. So unless the person was in the house or the car, the whole time, he/she was helping out with the movers, dressed as a mover. Other than the moving vans, she also didn't notice any other vehicle. She was kind of upset about it, but decided that if whoever was there didn't bother her, than she wouldn't bother them.</p>
<p>It wasn't until a couple weeks later that she suddenly felt the urge to know who now owned that home. She had seen a nice, for lack of a better word, looking car speeding past her home. One she hadn't ever seen before, and knowing that she had lived in this particular area of Saboady for quite a while, district forty-one, she knew nobody owned a car like that, except her, and maybe that one pervert down the street. Then later that week as she was picking oranges at the edge of her orchard, she noticed the same car parked in the driveway of what used to be Vivi's home. Not to mention, the famous fencer, who uses three swords, walking out of the house and to his car that had also been parked there, yelling bye to whoever was still inside, or in the doorway, though she couldn't see because of the angle she was at in relation to the house. So obviously he wasn't the one who moved in. She had also seen the same car parked at the shooting range, when she passed by to work.</p>
<p>Being a little too nosy, and having an eye for expensive things, she made her way to the driveway of the house, and stared at the car. It was red, and it had numbers on the sides, and a small silver lion head figure mounted to the top of the hood. The wheels were red, and the tires white. The windows were highly tinted, so she couldn't see what the inside looked like.</p>
<p>"Such a nice car." she hummed to herself, before picking up the orange cookies she made, and made her way to the door.</p>
<p>She rang the doorbell, and waited for the owner to open the door. There were some flowers outside, and a few childish decorations on the porch, so she wondered if the owner was a mother, or a grandma. It took a little while, so she rang the doorbell again.</p>
<p>"Geeze, I heard you!"</p>
<p>She heard a slightly deep, male, childish voice from inside, and shifted the cookies to the other hand.</p>
<p>The door opened, and revealed a man, around her age, if not younger, with dark black hair, and large eyes to match. He had a scar on his face under his left eye, which was hard not to notice, and he wore a red tank, which accentuated his arm muscles, and denim shorts. Nami gaped, she hadn't expected this turn of events.</p>
<p>"Hi!" he smiled.</p>
<p>"Hi," Nami answered, trying as hard as she could to actually look into his eyes, and not the fact that his tank was soaked with sweat, showing the details of his abs.</p>
<p>"Are those cookies?" he asked, eyeing the plate she was holding, "can I have one?"</p>
<p>She finally, actually, was able to look at his face, and noticed him staring at the plate she was holding in her left hand.</p>
<p>"Actually," she began.</p>
<p>"There for someone else?" he asked, his face falling, disappointed.</p>
<p>"Ah, no, actually, I made them for you...?" she didn't mean for her statement to come off as a question, but he was not what she had expected.</p>
<p>"Really?" His face was gleaming again. "You're so nice!" He opened the door wider, "Wanna come in?"</p>
<p>Surprised by his action, but not wanting to seem rude, as she didn't have anything better to do, she replied, "Well, I wasn't planning on it, and I don't really know you-"</p>
<p>"And I don't know you, so come in." he reasoned, and walked deeper into the house, waiting for her to join him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Unexpected</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>
  <span>Chapter Two</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>Nami followed him in, skeptical. Even though she had been inside the house a numerous amount of times, having been best friends with Vivi, he had different belongings, and a different layout. There were still boxes stacked up in the living room, and he didn't even have a TV.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I haven't finished unpacking," he said, noticing her gaze at the boxes. "But I'll get it done eventually."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked over at him, he was also looking at the boxes, as if wishing he had someone to help. Nami had barely known the guy, but for some reason she wanted to help him out. She began to open her mouth to speak, when her mind cut her off, reminding her that she didn't even know his name.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Anyway," he looked back over to her, "Do you want to put the cookies in the kitchen?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh!" she suddenly remembered the orange cookies she had, "yeah sure," and she turned to go to the kitchen, him following behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know your way around the place better than I do!" he chuckled, leaning his elbows against the bar counter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, my best friend used to live here," Nami replied, turning back to face him, "do you mind if I put the cookies in the fridge?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'd like one first, but yeah." he walked around the counter and stood in front of her, waiting for her to peel off the plastic wrap.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Right," Nami stated, before lifting the corner of it, and watching as he quickly grabbed three cookies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, you can put it in the fridge." He stated, before taking a bite.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she opened the fridge, she heard, "What kind of cookies are these?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Feeling offended, she turned to face him, but seeing his curious face and only half a cookie left in his hand, relaxed her anger, "They're orange cookies, my mother made the recipe."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Really?" he asked, popping the last half of the cookie into his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah," Nami replied, before actually putting the cookies into the fridge. It was nearly empty, save a few tupperware, filled with leftover steak and some wrapped up meat. "sure like meat don't you." she accidentally stated aloud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah! It's delicious!" she heard him say quite close to her ear. She turned to face him, to tell him to back up, but he reached in and pulled out the tupperware with the steak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Want some?" he asked, before his phone rang. He looked down at the number, before turning to face her, "Sorry, gotta take this, make yourself at home."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He answered the phone and made his way to the backdoor, "Yeah, Zoro, what's up?" he asked, before the door closed behind him, and Nami couldn't hear what was being said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So he was friends with Roronoa Zoro after all. She suddenly remembered that she was the only one in the house, not her house at that. The one that used to be her best friend's but now felt totally different.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Curious on what he had made of her friend's sunroom, she made her way to the back of the house, and opened the glass door, glancing around, he hadn't done anything to it. It was simply covered in a small layer of dust as if he had never even walked into the place, but she knew he had, because there were footprints in the middle of the floor. She missed having long chats, drinking tea with Vivi in the room, and seeing as it looked the same as it was right now, she was feeling very nostalgic. Vivi did still call her, and she even drove up to pick her up a few times, when her car was still in the shop. She turned and made her way out of the room, but she nearly slammed face first into the new owner of the flat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"This room is awesome, don't you think?" he asked, looking down at her, since she was currently on one of the two steps that made their way down into the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Um, yeah," she glanced around the room, "why haven't you done anything to it?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked back up, and into the room, "Eh, don't wanna."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Not even a couch or something?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How am I supposed to do that?" he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Push the couch down the hallway, and into the room...?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But I only have two couches, and those are for the living room."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami noticed that he only had two couches in the living room, but she had assumed, with this being one of the nicer houses in district forty-one of Saboady, and him having such a nice car out front he could afford another. But that doesn't mean he can, she reminded herself, she doesn't even know where he works, let alone his name.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His name! She doesn't know his name! Feeling a little flustered, about never asking it, she pushed him back out of the doorway so they were on even ground, "Your name! I never got your name!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Geeze," he muttered, after having to regain his balance, "I don't know yours either."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami noticed she had her hands still on his chest, and could feel his heartbeat, and the slight heaves of the chest as he breathed, "Nami, I'm Nami. Your neighbor." she brought her hands down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm Luffy!" he smiled, "Did you want steak?" he asked, going back to his previous question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Nami asked, confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I was going to heat up some steak, and was wondering if you wanted some." Luffy said again, noticing he was nearly backed up against a wall.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, um, sure... wait, no." Nami answered, backing away from him, and thinking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, I'm heating it up in the microwave right now, so if you want some you should come and get it before I eat it all." he said, walking past her and back to the kitchen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know, fine I'll have some," Nami replied following him, "but I want to know more about you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Kay, kay." he responded, as he entered the kitchen, the microwave ringing, signifying the meet was done. He opened the microwave and pulled out the glass tupperware it was in, he placed it down on the counter, "How many steaks do you want?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"One." Nami replied, slightly confused. It was steak, you only needed one, right. She sat down at the bar counter, in one of the stools, they were quite comfortable, considering they were bar stools.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He handed her a plate with one steak on it, and a fork, before leaning back against the island, with his own plate of at least three.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Could I have a steak knife?" Nami asked, before he could stab into his steak with his fork.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, sure, I guess girls don't really like to get messy, huh." he set his plate down, and walked around the island counter to a drawer by the sink, and pulled out a steak knife, "This is the one you want, right?" She nodded, and he walked over to hand it to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thanks," she replied, watching him pull himself up onto the island, and crossing his legs, as if it were some comfortable seat. "So what do you even do?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm gonna eat my steak." he reasoned, pointing at the food with his fork.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shook her head, cutting up her steak, before looking at him, "No, I meant where do you work, I saw that neat car out front and I was wondering where you worked."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh!" he replied, stuffing the whole steak in his mouth at the same time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked back down at her plate, pretending she hadn't seen him fit an entire steak in his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"- so I guess that's why." he was finishing answering her question, but she hadn't been able to understand it, because he had put a steak in his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm sorry, I hadn't caught that, what did you say?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I said that it was a gift from a friend, because my old one broke down, and he runs an automotive company, so he made me that one, so I guess that's why it's neat, though I think it's awesome, not neat." he replied, kind of disappointed that he had to repeat himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, but where do you work?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Where do you work?" he asked at the same time she asked him her question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She waited for him to answer, but not hearing her question, or wanting her answer first, he was waiting for her. She was about to open her mouth to ask her question again, when he repeated his.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Where do you work?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Um, well, I'm a cartographer, and I run this orchard over here." she gestured out the window to her orange trees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ooh! Really? Those look delicious! Are they oranges? Did you use them in the cookies?" he asked, before stuffing his face with another whole steak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She frowned on his manners, but decided to answer his question after she was done with her bite. It tasted kind of like Sanji's steaks. "Yes they are oranges, and yes I used them in the cookies. So where do you work?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Me?" he asked, pointing to himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pouted, pushing his lips to the side, and looking off to the left, "I don't work anywhere." he stated, trying to whistle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's believable." she answered sarcastically. "So why won't you tell me where you work, you bought this house, right, or was this another gift?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I did buy this house! I'm not broke!" he exclaimed at the same time a doorbell rang. He put his empty plate aside, and nearly ran out of the kitchen, leaving her at the counter, with a half eaten steak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yo! Usopp!" she heard him nearly yell, from the door. "I didn't know you were coming by today."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I texted you this morning."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh! Yeah, but then Zoro called and now Nami's here."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nami?" the guest asked, sounding slightly intrigued. She could hear him whispering but she couldn't make out what he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, she's just my neighbor, or at least that's what she said. She owns those orange trees over there."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Really! So it is a girl!" The guest made his way to the kitchen, "I can't believe it!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I have no idea what you're talking about." Luffy replied, following him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man entered the kitchen, and he had a rather long nose, he didn't look much older than Luffy, if any at all, but he had dark curly hair, and dark brown, round eyes. He was a tad taller than Luffy, and he made his way to the fridge. But before he got there, he noticed the empty tupperware on the counter and turned to Luffy, "I can't believe you ate all the steak! I told you I wanted to try some."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You can ask Nami." she heard behind her, making her spin in her chair to face him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ask me what?" she asked him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked down at her, "He wanted some steak, but I ate it all. They make great steak there." he stated, getting lost in a daydream, without even trying to hide it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She turned to face the newcomer, "I'm Nami, nice to meet you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hot!" the newcomer exclaimed before looking at the daydreaming Luffy, "Sorry about that, I'm Usopp. Luffy's best friend, next to Zoro."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Roronoa Zoro, right?" Nami asked, trying to confirm her suspicions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes, the one and only." Usopp nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wait, Usopp, are you by chance related to the owner of Yasopp's Shooting Range?" she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yep, he's my dad, but he's been away for a while, and I'm running it for the time being. This idiot likes to stop by, but he doesn't even know how to hold a gun. All he can do is punch."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oi!" she heard behind her, "I can do more than that! I have good aim, too, and I can hold a gun, and fire it!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Then how come you don't want to, everytime you're over there?" Usopp reasoned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Cause I don't want to. Besides, punching and kicking is a whole lot more fun, just ask Sanji."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sanji?" Nami turned to face Luffy, her steak forgotten in her plate, "As in Vinsmoke Sanji?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yep!" Luffy grinned, before eyeing her plate, "You done with that?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked at her plate, "Um, yeah, it was a little large."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy was about to grab it, when Usopp asked, "Can I have it?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glanced over at him, then back at Luffy, "Yeah, sure Usopp."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Usopp dashed around the kitchen to take the plate before Luffy could. "Thanks Nami! You're so nice!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I know right!" Luffy answered, "She brought me those good cookies in the fridge!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Really?" Usopp asked, grabbing a fork and knife, "I thought you got those from Sanji as well."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nope! I don't think Sanji's ever even made orange cookies." Luffy laughed, sitting next to Nami at the bar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How do you know Sanji?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I met him when I came here, he made me some food!" he smiled, "he's a nice guy!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He is." Nami smiled and looked back at Usopp, who was raising his eyebrows at her remark.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Luffy! I think the girl is taken," he shook his head in shame, "That's too bad, she was such a nice girl, too. She even owned an orchard with oranges." he sighed, audibly, "Maybe you should just go back to Amazon Lilly, then Hancock would still be there for you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Amazon Lilly? Nami thought to herself, Hancock, as in Boa Hancock. That was a country not far from where they were, where it was nearly impossible for men to enter, and Hancock ruled as it's empress. Luffy had been there? Or is Usopp just joking around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I already told her I'm not marrying her, Usopp." Luffy sighed, "Besides, even if the girls there are nice now, they had tried to kill me when I had arrived."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, yeah, I know, I've heard the story a thousand times. But this girl here is taken, so you have no other option." Usopp replied, gesturing to Nami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked at him confused, "taken by what?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know, in a relationship." Usopp stated, raising his eyebrows as if that would make the other boy understand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami however had understood, but she was taken aback by Amazon Lilly to notice, now however she did, and decided to clear up the miscommunication, though she didn't know why. If she were taken, then these boys wouldn't hit on her, or try to take advantage of her. She only just met them, after all. But then again, she had only just met them, so it might be better to be honest with them from the start. "Actually, I'm not. Sanji's just a nice guy. I'm not in any relationship."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh." Usopp replied, then smirked at Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Luffy asked, still obviously confused about the whole thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nothing." Usopp shook his head, before placing aside the now empty plate. "You know Nami, I could tell you a thing or two about Luffy."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, you won't." Luffy replied, leaning over the counter partially.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Relax, I won't tell her you can't swim." Usopp stated, waving his hand at the boy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, okay." he replied, and sat back in his chair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami glanced over at him, "You can't swim?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His face went red in embarrassment, "Usopp!" he yelled. However the man now was hiding behind the island counter obscured from view. Luffy looked over at her, "Yeah, it's a condition. He replied. "Apparently, you can only get it from eating a certain type of rare fruit."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, I know someone with something like that." Nami stated, remembering her dark haired friend.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry if this is a little sloppy, and there are typos. Please feel free to comment where those were, so that I can find them and fix it later.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Driving</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"We should go to a pool!" Usopp stated, peeking his head over the counter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah!" Luffy exclaimed, leaping from his seat, “I'll go get my stuff!" he stopped hallway out of the kitchen, and turned to Nami, "you have a swimsuit, right?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wait, I thought you couldn't swim," Nami asked, thinking maybe they were both tricking her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, I can't." Luffy answered, "you got a swimsuit?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, am I coming too?" Nami asked, still confused on why he wanted to go the pool if he couldn't swim. Robin would go to the pool or the beach and sunbathe, but he didn't seem like the kind of guy to do that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Duh," Luffy smiled, "We're friends, right?" he giggled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had to admit, everytime he laughed, it was absolutely adorable, and she loved listening to it. She hopped off her bar stool, and made her way out of the kitchen, and to the front door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Luffy!" Usopp stated, making them turn around. "What if she has things to do?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's summer," Luffy responded, "we're all going to the pool."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, what if she has things that she needs to get done today." Usopp reasoned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh." Luffy clapped his fist into his palm, then turned to Nami, "Do you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ah, no, I don't, but is it-" she was cut off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Alright, it's settled, we'll take my car to the pool." he turned and made his way up the spiral staircase in the corner of the living room, to get his things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Usopp sighed, "He's a handful, sorry bout that." he made his way over to Nami, "if you don't want to go, that's fine."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"She's coming, Usopp! I've already decided!" Luffy yelled down the stairs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Don't decide things on your own, Luffy!" Usopp yelled back up before turning back the orange haired girl, "You just met him, right? You don't have to come if you don't want to."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Then why'd you offer going to the pool?" Nami questioned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I was trying to get his mind on something fun that he likes to do, so he wouldn't be mad at me." Usopp scratched his chin, shamefully admitting his mistake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's fine, I don't have anything to do today anyway, and I really want to see the inside of that car. It looks so nice." Nami replied, gleaming. It was a nice car, which meant it was expensive, and she had an eye for expensive things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's awesome!" Luffy scared her as he jumped down from the spiral staircase with a huge bag of swim stuff.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Geeze, Luffy!" Usopp announced, "Don't scare me like that."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sorry, Usopp." Luffy replied, "Have you got your swimsuit yet?" he asked Nami, knowing Usopp probably brought one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Uh, no, I haven't, let me run back to my house and get it." she replied, and made her way to the front door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Be quick!" Luffy yelled back to her, as Usopp nudged his shoulder wiggling his eyebrows.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami entered her home and went upstairs into her bedroom. She glanced out her door onto her balcony, and noticed Usopp yelling to Luffy about something and pointing to Luffy’s car. While she was curious what they were talking about, she decided it probably didn’t really involve her, and made her way to her walk-in closet. She shifted through her swimsuits, trying to decide if she should accentuate her curves, and her womanly features in a one piece, or go in a two piece bikini, where they could see her curves and womanly features, without much to cover them. Deciding on the latter, she compromised. She’d grab one of her two piece bikinis that was a halter top, that was a slight turtleneck, mid-to-high-waisted bottoms. She placed them into one of her totes, and grabbed a beach towel. She also made sure to grab some flip flops, sunscreen, and fill up a water bottle. Once she had finished everything she felt that would be needed to go to the pool, she glanced at her fridge and pantry, “Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to grab a few snacks for the three of them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she finally left her house, and made the trek back through her orchards and through the gate into Luffy’s yard, she found him dashing back into the house saying he forgot something extremely important, which left her with Usopp. The latter came up to her, and lightly punched her shoulder, in a teasing manner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What took you so long? Luffy was getting impatient.” he smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t look like that to me, did he forget a water bottle?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I remembered to pack one for him, I think he forgot his hat.” He said, looking up to the window that used to be Vivi’s room, the master bedroom of the house.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“His hat?” she asked, but she understood, depending on where they were going, that was, she remembered to bring herself some sunglasses, cause she didn’t seem to think she looked good in sunhats.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, never goes anywhere without it.” Usopp replied, as the boy in question made his way out of the house, and turned to lock the door, a straw hat tied around his neck. It looked a little old and tattered, but she supposed that made sense if he always wore it, and brought it everywhere, like a child, she mused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Nami!” he said, turning around to greet her, “What took you so long?” he asked, as he pulled out his keys to start the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s kind of a crazy driver,” Usopp whispered into her ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” she asked, getting slightly nervous.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Usopp responded, before raising his hand, “I’m sitting in the back, if that’s alright with you, Luffy.” he called to his friend as he made his way to the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy’s pool bag was already in the trunk, so he didn’t think to open it for Nami, and he opened his front door, on the driver’s side, and got in, starting the vehicle. Nami opened the passenger door, and sat down pulling her bag in and setting it at her feet, thankful that it wasn’t a messy car, and buckled herself up. Luffy turned to face her, after he secured himself into his seat, “Sorry about the mess, Usopp was telling me girls don’t like messy cars.” he stated, and looked out the back window to make sure the coast was clear, before slamming his foot on the gas in reverse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t think it was at all that messy, but she couldn’t voice her opinion, as the car sped out of his driveway, and into the street, he then pushed it into first gear, and sped down the street, he orchard went by in a blur, barely even letting her see it. She grabbed onto the seat for dear life, as Luffy giggled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oi, Usopp, can you turn on some music?” He called back to his friend. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Usopp nodded, letting his phone connect to the bluetooth, “Yeah, you good with listening to Soul King?” He asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You like Soul King, too?” Nami asked, barely keeping her eyes off the road, as she gripped her seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, Brook’s awesome!” Luffy responded, as the music started to play in the car. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After getting out of the long stretch of the neighborhood, Luffy slowed down his vehicle and went the speed limit, much to Nami’s pleasure. She released her grip on his cushions, and actually looked around in his car. His seats were red leather, and he had very soft carpeting in the car. It was actually quite spacious inside, despite the slick outerior. She looked around in the car, and wondered how much it cost to specially make something like this, even though she knew he said it was a gift.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How much did the car cost?” she accidentally said aloud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Over two hundred grand.” Usopp responded, casually. Luffy was too into the music to notice their conversation. “Luffy thinks it was a gift, and that’s partially true. Going Merry, Luffy’s other car, which was a gift from my girlfriend, now fiance, because her caretaker ran a small automotive company, had to get totalled, and they gave him two hundred thousand for it, but on that not being enough for the car of Luffy’s dreams, as Franky put it, he decided to do all the extra things to the car as a gift.” Usopp sighed, “Luffy and I were really attached to the Merry, so when he decided to total it, we kind of got into an argument, and didn’t talk for a while.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see, so he named his old car Going Merry?” she asked, looking back at the friend behind her, receiving a nod, “So what’s this car’s name?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thousand Sunny.” Luffy answered, the music had stopped, and he heard her question. Usopp nodded in agreement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thousand Sunny?” Nami asked, trying to confirm it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but I just call her Sunny.” Luffy grinned, turning down the music partially. “Merry was awesome though! She needed so many repairs, and Usopp did the best he could, but Franky and that Ice-guy both said it was impossible to repair anymore when we took it in. So Franky decided to make me a new car even though he normally just destroyed them, and took their parts.” he laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’s right,” Usopp thought aloud. “You didn’t get along with Franky for a little while because of that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it was because he hurt you.” Luffy responded, looking up into the mirror to look at his friend in the backseat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hurt you?” Nami asked, looking back to Usopp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want to talk about it.” Usopp responded looking at his hands, before looking up, with a change of demeanor, “Hey, Luffy, didn’t you pass the pool!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Luffy asked, beginning to glance around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami grabbed his head, and faced it forward, “Eyes on the road!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, just turn around in that empty lot, and I’ll tell you where to turn.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kay.” Luffy answered, turning on his blinker, to Nami’s surprise, though he didn’t actually put on the brakes, so when they turned, Nami ended up falling face first into his lap, since her hands had been still on his face.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you for reading this far! That means so much to me, you have no idea!!!<br/>Please comment your thoughts!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Pool</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami blushed. When they had turned, he had made a right hand turn, and the force of the car had sent her flying forwards, or rather, to the left. Her hands had been on Luffy’s soft cheeks, and when he turned they had flown up into the air, but too late to catch herself, she landed face first into his lap. Luffy had stopped as soon as they had gotten into the empty lot, slamming on the brakes and the clutch. The force sent his body forward slightly, which folded over her head for a moment, and she could feel his abs against the back of her head, but he sat back and looked down at her, her arms still in the air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The moment seemed to last forever, even though in reality it probably only lasted a few seconds, she could only imagine Usopp and Luffy holding in a snicker, before the sly response, ‘eager, aren’t we?’ came out of one of their mouths. If it had been Sanji, he would have had a nose bleed, and it would have gotten all over the car, and in her hair, much to both of their dismays. But she would have known him longer, and he didn’t drive like that, so it would have been a whole lot different, but she barely even knew this person, and here she was face first in his crotch. She wanted to apologize, but didn’t really know what to say.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt hands against her shoulders, pulling her up, and large eyes looking into hers when she lifted her face, “Are you okay?” Luffy asked her, concern stretched across his features. No nose bleed, no blush, heck she didn’t even feel anything when her face was there. Was he asexual? Even a gay person would say something, like ‘I don’t swing that way,’ but did he really feel nothing? Maybe he was just too kind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s blush increased, on finally meeting a nice guy, her ex had been ruthless to her. The only kind man, that wasn’t a pervert, in her life was Gen, and he was a father-figure to her. She only just met the guy, she shouldn’t be assuming too much of him. For some reason, she almost wanted him to say something strange, something perverted, so that she would know what to do. But he didn’t, he just looked at her, waiting for her response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, I was driving too fast, wasn’t I?” He asked, still holding onto her shoulders, as she hadn’t fully sat herself up yet. She then noticed how close their faces were, because she was leaning over the middle console, her face was looking up to his, her hands now resting on his leg, absently, her face was red, and his eyes were caring. It was as if they were that perfect couple in those television shows she watched as a teenager.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, yeah,” she stuttered out, straightening herself back into her seat, pushing on his leg to do so. His hands lingered in the air for a second before dropping, and he fixed his position in his seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll drive slower, then.” He replied, not daring to look at Usopp.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was scared to look at the friend in the backseat as well. He probably had a smirk on his face, knowing that he seemed to be trying to get Luffy to admit he liked her, or something. She glanced into one of the side rearview mirrors to see his face, her curiosity getting the best of her. He wasn’t smirking though, he was smiling, but it seemed more because of what Luffy did then what had happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After they arrived at the pool, which was an outdoor pool, and much to Nami’s surprise, practically empty, she found herself alone with Usopp again, as Luffy gathered all of his pool supplies from the back. Some had fallen out of the bag they were in, and were spread throughout the trunk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you think about Luffy?” Usopp asked, as Nami was trying not to think of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about him?” Nami responded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just wondering what you thought of him.” he shrugged, glancing at the childlike adult who hit his head on the trunk door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s nice.” Nami thought aloud, “Handsome, but childish. Though, I think he’s just a little too nice and caring sometimes. But I barely know him. He’s easy to read, and can’t tell a lie.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t tell a lie?” Usopp asked, who had been nodding along with what she was saying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? You didn’t know? I had asked him what he did for work, and he puckered his lips and looked away, saying that he didn’t have a job.” Nami shrugged, “Where does he work anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t say I know.” Usopp replied, and Nami couldn’t tell if he was lying or not. “But, I will tell you this, once he considers you his friend, and actually a friend, he’ll open up more. That’s his downfall though, can’t say how many times I’ve seen him betrayed by people he trusted.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” That was all she could say, the difference between her and him, was that she was the one normally doing the betraying, with exception to her ex. Sure, she knew they felt hurt, but when Arlong, her ex, had betrayed her, it hurt to no end.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay!” Luffy broke the sudden silence, “I got everything! Are you ready to go?” he said holding his bag in one hand as he shut the car’s trunk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep! Been waiting on you, slow poke.” Usopp laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, come on! I bet Raleigh is waiting for us!” he made his way to the gate, and knocked on it with his foot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t think they heard you.” Nami sighed, “Maybe you should just let us open the gate.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stepped up next to him, when an older woman, though she still looked quite young, had come to the gate. Nami recognized her as the owner of the bar, Shakky’s Spirits. She had been famous back in her day, but her name wasn’t really tossed around anymore.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Luffy,” she answered, pulling her cigarette away from her lips, and holding it lightly, “Brought a new friend with you today?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sounded like she was talking to a ten year old, Nami noticed. But she couldn’t say she blamed her, he did seem quite childlike, even if she had only known him for a short period of time. After entering through the gate, she noticed a small group of people gathered. One person had rather strange hair as it was gathered up in large spikes about his head, he reminded her of one of her ex’s close friends. Then there was a rather slender young woman, who was probably about Nami’s own age, next to the man, her green hair was a slight mess, and she wore a t-shirt over her bikini. Then there was a group of people around a bar that Shakky was making her way over to. One had dirty blond hair, and was much taller than the others. They all wore similar clothes, and looked to be in some sort of gang. However, other than these people, Luffy’s group of three were the only people there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is Raleigh not here, again?” Luffy asked, slouching as he dropped his bag at a table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you know this is Duval’s pool, Luffy,” Shakky responded, “It isn’t like he owns the place.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but I haven’t seen him in like two years!” He responded, pouting. He really did act like a child sometimes, Nami giggled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her giggle had made both Usopp and Luffy look at her, the former asked, “What’s funny?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, nothing,” she waved her hand as if waving off the question, “he’s just such a child.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Am not!” Luffy responded, standing, “I’m twenty-one years old, I am an adult.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah,” Usopp replied, “We gonna swim or what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Luffy replied, and pulled off his shirt. He and Usopp had decided to change into their trunks before Nami had come back from her house, with her swimsuit, and other things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami couldn’t help but stare at his well toned chest. Despite his childish demeanor, he had a well built chest and abs, he had an x-shaped burn scar across his breasts, and she was curious about its origin. Usopp was also toned, just not as much as her neighbor. They both tossed their shirts into the pile of Luffy’s pool equipment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hot, isn’t he?” she heard a voice beside her. She snapped to see who was talking and noticed it was the girl from earlier.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Camie,” she smiled, “I noticed you were eyeing Luffy-chin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy?” Nami looked back in his direction, as Usopp helped him in putting floating devices on his arms, and torso.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s nice,” she smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you like him?” Nami asked, thinking maybe she could become friends with this girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, no, I have Hachi.” She gestured over to the man she was with, “But Luffy’s a friend of mine, too, so I’m curious on who likes him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I don’t like him, not like that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” Camie nearly jumped, as if it was a complete surprise, “I am so sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to be rude, I just thought that…” she stopped, and made a perfect swan dive into the deep end, that they just so happened to put their stuff by.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Nami, are you swimming in that?” Luffy asked, coming near her, he was decked out in inflatable swim gear, and Usopp was already in the water, kicking his legs to stay afloat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glanced down at herself, half because she was trying to contain her laughter, he looked ridiculous, and half because he was pointing at her attire. “Um, no.” she said, once she felt she had contained it, “I haven’t changed yet.” She grabbed her bag, and made her way to the changing room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kay, but hurry up!” Luffy replied, with a yell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard a splash, and glanced back. Luffy had jumped into the pool and was currently floating around in his innertubes. She giggled, softly, before opening the door to the woman’s changing room. She fit the swimsuit around her, and applied a light coat of sunscreen, because she still wanted to try and get a tan, before slipping into her flip flops, and making her way out. She had placed her bag in one of the lockers, seeing as there were only two women other than herself there, and one appeared to be an employee of sorts, so she would easily be able to tell if they were stealing her stuff. She made her way to the pool, and dipped her toes in. Luffy was in the three-foot side of the pool that she was currently getting into. Could he really not swim?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get in faster, it’s no fun like that.” Luffy said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into the pool.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, that’s not how you treat a girl.” Usopp said behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oops, sorry,” he said, even though she had already splashed him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wiped the water out of her face, with wet hands, and looked up at him, intending on telling him not to do that again, but he had such great features when he was wet, even if he was dressed as a two-year-old in a pool. He was trying to wipe the water from his eyes, but kept using the water to rinse it out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t put your hands in the water!” She stated, as he wiped his eyes again. The salt in the pool, as it was a salt-water pool, was beginning to burn his eyes, so he kept doing it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, but it hurts!” he stated, stumbling backwards, his footing slipped, and had he not been in an innertube, he would have fallen backwards into the water. He however began floating away from her into the deeper parts of the pool.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then let me help!” Nami exclaimed. She noticed Usopp had already gotten out, and grabbed a towel for him. She grabbed onto the tube, before it got too far, and began to pull him back. He was still trying to get the water out of his eyes, continuously saying it burned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Usopp handed her the dry end of the towel, as he crouched by the edge of the three-feet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy was on solid footing now, but he wasn’t paying attention, so he panicked when Nami grabbed his wrists, and he nearly flipped her over, her back would have slammed against the water, and her head against the concrete, before he felt her let go as quickly as she grabbed them. He felt the soft edges of the towel on his face, and he grabbed it from her, wiping the water off his face, “Thanks, Nami.” he said, after he got all the water out of his face, and brushed up his hair so the water on it wouldn’t get in his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, no problem.” Nami replied, a faint blush on her cheeks.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Wow, quite eventful, isn't it? Lol!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Shopping</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>After they had left the pool, Usopp said something about going to the strip mall, and although she could tell Luffy hated this idea, he agreed. Nami had been planning on getting some extra shopping in, and this would be the perfect  time to do so. Besides, these two guys seemed to have quite the stash in their pockets, so she might be able to get them to buy her a few things. Though she had to admit, her house was nearly the size of Vivi’s old house, she hoped they’d be too dense to realize she was loaded, too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy unlocked the trunk, his shirt now clinging to his wet torso, and the wet towels and innertubes made his bag wet. Usopp was nagging him about having to put down a plastic sheet before putting the bag in, or else the car would get wet, and Franky hated having his creation be ruined. Nami snickered, but it didn’t go unnoticed by Shakky.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You seem to be holding back,” she said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Holding back?” Nami asked, turning around, offended, “What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, you’re kind of hiding some of your personality,” Shakky smiled, before taking in a breath of her cigarette and letting out the smoke, “if you want to be friends with him, you should show him your true colors, so to speak.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You noticed, huh?” Nami sighed, “honestly, I don’t know why? Maybe it was because of his childish persona.” Her eyebrow twitched, “Is he really that childish?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, he is. I don’t know the reasons behind it though, it’d be best to ask someone closer to him about it.” Shakky smiled, “Do you want to know more about him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess,” Nami sighed, loudly, “he is my neighbor.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shakky nodded, and left as Luffy and Usopp made their way over to her. Luffy was shaking his head, like a puppy, trying to get the water out of it, and onto Usopp. He was telling him to stop, and he didn’t want to get his shirt wet. Nami let out a faint smile, both of them were idiots. If all of his friends were, then she wasn’t sure she’d be able to handle being his neighbor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You gonna put that bag with you in the front?” Usopp asked, after Luffy had given up on shaking the water out of his hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, um, actually,” Nami smirked, “You wouldn’t mind if I put this in your trunk, would you?” she asked Luffy, knowing her bag was wet because he dropped his innertubes in it by accident.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah,” he frowned, “but I forgot the plastic sheet,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Plastic sheet?” Nami asked, then turned to Usopp for an explanation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, normally, when we go to the pool, in order to keep the car nice, we put a plastic sheet in the trunk so that the water from the towels and the bags don’t get into the carpeting.” Usopp shrugged, “but this idiot forgot it, even though we were waiting for a long time.” he finished, pointing to Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well that’s not my fault. I’m not the one who took so long!” Luffy shouted back at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, excuse me for taking so long!” Nami yelled, joining in the banter, “I needed to get all the things I need for swimming!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But all you needed was a swimsuit!” Luffy shouted back at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And sunscreen, and a water bottle, and those snacks that we enjoyed!” Nami yelled at him, eager to knock him over the head for being an idiot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Luffy relaxed himself, “Thanks, Nami!” he smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, those sandwiches were pretty good.” Usopp replied, “but we should get going before the ammunition store closes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right!” Luffy exclaimed, before practically jumping over to the car, “come on, you guys are slow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Open your trunk! I need to put my bag in it.” Nami said, walking over to the trunk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not locked,” Luffy murmured, before walking to the back of his vehicle, and opening the trunk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Usopp got in the backseat again, letting Nami have the passenger one. He nudged Luffy in the shoulder, as Nami got in. Luffy looked at him questioningly, and started his car. He was about to back out quickly as he had done before, but it really did hurt when she slammed into his lap, so he backed out slowly, much to Shakky’s surprise, as she watched them leave, but she didn’t think much of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the time they had gotten to the strip mall, they had listened to three of Soul King’s songs three times. Luffy said that they were really good, and he loved them, so he would beg Usopp to play it again. Nami had gotten annoyed by it, and eventually hit him over the head each time they reached the fourth time he wanted it replayed, saying they should move on to the next song. She had slowly started letting herself out, and it was probably because of something Shakky had said. She really didn’t know exactly why she wasn’t being herself. Maybe because she was still hurt with her sister moving out, maybe it was because she had recently gotten texts from her ex, maybe it was because she found a few of her orange trees in bad shape. Her mom had planted the trees for her, and now she was ill, the whole reason why Nojiko left in the first place. Maybe it was because he was nicer than the boys she had met before, with the exception of Sanji, but he was a pervert, and Gen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy got out of his car and stretched, ready to go to some fast food restaurants in the area. He had already pulled his car keys out, and had placed them in the pocket of his denim shorts. His red tank top was still clinging to him, and Usopp’s shirt to himself as well. Feeling a little uncomfortable, with her hair wet, she asked for the trunk to be open so that she could grab one of her emergency hair ties out of her bag. Luffy had been a little less than compliant, but he did it nonetheless. With her hair finally off her back, she joined them as they made their way to the ammunition store that Usopp desperately wanted to go to. She however did not.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, I’m gonna go ahead and shop at another store, Usopp.” she stated, before making sure she had her wallet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I come with you?” Luffy asked, much to Usopp’s displeasure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t even like guns do you?” he asked, annoyed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I do, but I’ve been in that store so many times, and she’s going somewhere else!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” Usopp exaggerated, “I thought we were friends, Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We are!” Luffy exclaimed, believing the exaggeration of his friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then why are you going with her!” Usopp faked a wail.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cause she’s my friend, too!” Luffy said, wailing along with him. “I’m sorry, Usopp!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You guys are ridiculous.” Nami frowned, “Wherever you are going, I’m gonna go to a different store.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, Luffy, go with her!” Usopp replied, releasing Luffy from their hug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can go get lunch together later!” Luffy replied, walking backwards with Nami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You mean dinner!” Usopp yelled, as Luffy walked away, “We had lunch at your place!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, that’s what I meant!” Luffy turned around, and practically skipped beside her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was that an act?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What an act?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami sighed, this kid was an idiot, “never mind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami walked into a clothing store, one that she had been meaning to go to for a while, and noticed all of the nice, tight, clothes that she couldn’t wait to try on. Luffy glanced around the store, there not being a men’s section, so he just followed Nami. The clothes just seemed like clothes to him, and he couldn’t quite understand her excitement about it. He frowned. She had grabbed a decent pile of clothes, and handed them to him. Forcing him to hold the clothes she picked out. Before he knew it, he couldn’t even see her, as she kept piling more clothes into his hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, I think I’m gonna try on a few of these,” she said, as she stared at the decent pile of clothes, nearly all of the racks missing clothes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So can I put them down?” Luffy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami shook her head, “Nope, I’m gonna start with the top ones,” she reached up and grabbed a few clothes from the top, his straw hat becoming visible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Excuse me, ma’am,” an employee approached her as she made her way to the dressing room, Luffy not being able to see a thing, so she left him behind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes?” Nami answered, batting her eyelashes at the man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Could you, perhaps, leave a few clothes for the other customers?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I’m not even done shopping!” Nami exclaimed, raising her eyebrows, anamused, “I’m still going to purchase the clothes, aren’t I!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, yes, um.” the man backed up, “Never mind.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami triumphantly made her way into the dressing room, and eventually tried on all of the clothes she had picked out. Usopp had come in, and stood beside Luffy, so the clothes she didn’t want ended up in his arms, and Luffy was still stuck with all the clothes she did want. The pile had been reduced to two thirds of the previous amount, and Nami made her way to the counter to pay, leaving Usopp to handle the clothes she didn’t want.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“These were all on a fifty percent off rack.” she exclaimed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, excuse me, ma’am, but we have no sales going on in the store at the moment,” the cashier stated, frowning, while trying to maintain a cheerful attitude.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I’m still buying these, and look at the amount I’m getting.” Nami sighed, “Fine, how about sixty percent off.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not the issue,” the cashier began, but Nami sent her a glare, </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you ever had someone buy this many of your expensive clothes before!” she asked, slamming her hand on the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, no, I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then sixty-eight percent off.” Nami decided. Once the cashier had agreed, and rang up all the items at seventy-five percent off, with the help of the manager getting the same earful as the cashier, Nami triumphantly exclaimed, “He’s paying.” and gestured over to Luffy, who was currently holding all of the clothes she just got.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” Luffy exclaimed, and nearly dropped the clothes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought we were friends?” Nami said, pouting at his response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, we are,” Luffy began, “but Usopp doesn’t even ask me to pay for his clothes. They’re just clothes! Why do I even have to pay for them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because they’re my clothes, and we are friends, right?” Nami exclaimed, even though she knew she was probably pushing her luck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine,” Luffy pouted, and fished around for his wallet in his pockets, before he heard faint screaming, and gunfire, and he realized that he didn’t have his wallet with him, “Hey, Usopp!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Usopp had just finished getting all the clothes put back on the ‘return’ rack, and made his way over to Luffy and Nami, when the former called him, “Yeah, Luffy, what’s up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you hold these for a second,” Luffy asked, but still handing all of the clothes over to his best friend, “I forgot my wallet in the car!” he said, dashing out of the store.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Usopp sighed, “Boy’s not gonna come back for a while,” he turned to Nami, “did he offer to pay for these?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami nodded, even though she knew he could probably tell she was lying, “I forgot my wallet, so he was gonna pay me back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Usopp replied, drawing out the end. Nami knew that he had seen her pull her wallet out of her across-the-shoulder bag before they had separated, “well, you can pay me back, instead.” he pulled out his card from his wallet, shifting the clothes in his arms to do so, “How much?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Two hundred sixty-eight, twenty-seven.” the cashier replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, what?” Usopp exclaimed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Two hundred sixty eight, twenty-seven.” the cashier repeated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are going to have to pay me that back.” Usopp frowned, before swiping his card, “That’s almost the same amount I spent on my ammo.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Nami frowned, knowing that the idiot who had forgotten his wallet probably wouldn’t have had her pay him back. Had she known that she would have just paid for it herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d like two copies of the receipt, please,” Usopp stated, as the receipt was printing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they left the store, Nami made Usopp carry the eight bags of clothes as they made their way back to Luffy’s car. However, the car was gone. “Hey, did Luffy go somewhere?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe he went back to his place to look for his wallet.” Usopp suggested as they heard tires screech behind them. Nami turned around with the man holding her bags.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, that took so long,” Luffy stated, through the open window of his car, “were you able to pay for them?”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And thus begins the real mysteries that encase this story...</p><p> </p><p>(I love to write cliff hangers... expect more!)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Accident</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami woke up in her bed from gunshots. Gunshots next door. It had only been a week since she had finally gone over and met him, and even spent the whole day with him and his best friend, though sometimes she felt like she had been third-wheeling their date, though Usopp would disagree. Now there were gunshots being fired next door. She rubbed her eyes, and looked out her window, but on not seeing anything, she made her way onto the balcony, wrapping her blanket around her. It was like five in the morning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She saw Usopp’s car was in Luffy’s driveway, and Luffy’s was either in his garage, or it wasn’t there, she was thinking the former. There was also the car she had seen Zoro get into that one day in the driveway. She looked around, not seeing why there would be gunshots. Maybe she had imagined it. But as she turned to go back to bed, she heard another. Groaning, she walked to the edge of her balcony, and glanced into the backyard of Vivi’s old home. There were three people out there, one in shorts, flip flops, and a white tank top, with the logo of Iceberg’s automotive repair company, and another in black pants, and combat boots, a green band across his waist, black shirt, and a bandana on his head, and lastly, there was a man in overalls, and a light green shirt. He was wearing hiking boots. She recognized them each, the man in shorts and flip flops was Luffy, without a doubt. The man in combat boots was probably Zoro, on recognizing his car, and Usopp was the last one. So Luffy was there, as she had assumed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another gunshot fired, Usopp was the only one with a gun, so she assumed it must have been him. Luffy and Usopp jumped around gleefully, appearing the reason being because Usopp had shot the target, in a straight bullseye. Zoro approached the two and said something to them, pointing up at the balcony Nami was at. She widened her eyes, as Luffy looked in her direction and waved. He was saying something, but she couldn’t make it out very well. The morning breeze in her ears. Usopp looked where Luffy was waving, and waved as well. Nami let out a gentle wave, before the three of them went back to what they were doing. Nami sighed, if they were going to be firing guns, she had no chance of getting back to sleep. She decided to go ahead and get on with her day. She had another run of maps to make, and take them over to the company she had a contract with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sighed and got dressed, she sat on the couch and turned on her TV to get the news and weather report for the day. She curled her legs up underneath her as she ate her oatmeal with orange zest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“‘Non-injury accident in district sixteen of Sabaody, though reports seem to prove it had been completely intentional. Archeologist Nico Robin had been the victim of the crime. She had not been harmed in the crash, but the suspect had made a straight getaway. We have one witness to the crime, who we have with us, today. What do you remember seeing?’ the news reporter asked, turning the mic to the blue-haired pervert that lived off in district seven.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“‘I remember the car having the government sticker on its license plate, as it had been in front of me at the light. The driver didn’t even stop to make sure she was fine. From my point of view the super lady in the vehicle was targeted.’ the man said, with a frown”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami turned off the TV, Robin had been targeted, why? What did she do? She wanted to call her, see if she was fine, but a knock was heard on her back door. She got up, wanting to tell whoever it was to go away, she had better things to do, but seeing who it was behind her glass french doors, she sighed, softly. He was too nice to just push away like that, and after Usopp had told her, she was kind of scared to do so.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Luffy, what’s up?” she answered, sliding the door open, in a monotone voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry if we had woken you up. Usopp wanted to get a little more practice in, and the shooting range isn’t supposed to be open today so-” he stopped, and looked at her face, slightly bending down to do so, “Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, um, yeah, I’m fine.” Nami replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t look fine.” Luffy frowned, “what’s wrong, you can tell me, we’re friends, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Friends. People you trust. People who don’t betray you. People you want to protect. Nami outwardly sighed, and pulled her arms around herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m concerned, I had watched the news report this morning, and my friend appeared to have been targeted. I don’t know what to do.” she let her head drop forward, and ended up leaning against Luffy’s chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nico Robin, right?” Luffy asked, not knowing exactly what to do in this situation. He felt her head nod against his chest, “She’s fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami pushed herself off him, “I know, I’m just concerned, I guess. Have you ever had someone close to you been targeted?” Nami asked, coming off a little more dominant than she meant to, His eyes went wide, signifying that she shouldn’t have said that. She brought her hands up, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have, I mean, I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no, it’s fine,” Luffy faked a smile, “I understand, Robin’s your friend, right? You want to be there for her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami meekly smiled, still feeling awful about possibly bringing up some bad memories.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is your car working?” she heard Usopp ask, but she only looked at Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” she sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, why don’t you take her to her friend’s house.” Nami heard someone behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think she could use some company right now.” Usopp smiled, next to Zoro, as Nami just noticed them on her deck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy had been looking at them, but turned to face Nami, “Do you want me to come with?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami widened her eyes to him, in all honesty, she hadn’t thought he’d ask. She didn’t exactly want to be alone, she never really liked the feeling, but she desperately wanted to help out Robin. She wasn’t injured, so she was probably at her apartment, and it was still early in the morning, and she hated being on the road this early. “Yeah, that would be helpful.” Nami replied, shakily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you want to take his car, or yours?” Zoro asked, folding his arms across his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can drive mine.” She responded, hesitantly, but then she realized she’d be taking them away from their day, “But don’t you have work, you can’t just be coming with me, and your friends…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t have work.” Luffy lied, even under the stressful situation it was obvious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s not busy,” Usopp answered, “and I was about to get going anyway, I have to go on a date with Kaya, in a few hours.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoro nodded, about to come up with his own excuse.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Zoro could come with us,” Luffy answered, “he’s not busy. The more the better, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami meekly nodded, Zoro was feared, but he was honestly a genuinely kind and caring person. Zoro frowned, but he couldn’t even come up with a good excuse anyway, so he nodded his head, agreeing on coming.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami had opened her car door, as Luffy got in the passengers and Zoro in the back. She didn’t even bother turning on the music for the drive, as she was too concerned with her friend’s well-being. Luffy and Zoro were quiet the whole drive to respect her apparent wishes. When they reached the apartment complex, Nami got out of the car, along with Luffy and Zoro, and hurried up the stairs to the third floor, and knocked on room 379. Luffy and Zoro behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Robin opened the door, quietly, and noticed the three of them right away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Nami, are you okay? What’s wrong?” Robin asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Robin! I’m fine, are you okay?” She asked, hugging the archeologist.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine, trust me.” she smiled, vaguely, “I assume you had watched the news this morning.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that why you brought yourself here with your bodyguards?” Robin asked, stroking the orange hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Nami mumbled against Robin’s chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine, there were no injuries. It seemed to be a hit and run, that’s all. My car’s a little damaged, but nothing I can’t handle.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you are okay, right?” Nami asked, again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Nami, I’m fine, it seems like you are more hurt then me, there isn’t anything to worry about, I promise.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami sighed, relieved.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you guys all want to come in?” Robin asked, opening the door a little wider, after Nami had released her hug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure.” Zoro replied, and made his way into the apartment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d love too, really, Robin,” Nami began, but she didn’t have to finish.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s okay,” Robin responded, “you have your maps to finish, don’t you?” Nami nodded, with a meek yeah, “Then don’t let my incident stop you, I’m fine, so why don’t you and your friend here go head back to your place.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds good.” Luffy responded, “Should we go?” Luffy asked, leaving Zoro to Robin’s care. Though it hadn’t been her intention, she was grateful she was with Zoro alone, they had a bit to talk about.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Just a little crumb of the cake of suspense for y'all</p><p>More cliffhangers to come!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Misunderstanding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami sat down in the driver’s seat of her car, and pressed her forehead against the wheel. Only around a month and a half ago her sister had moved out of the apartment, leaving her alone, then this new boy shows up and brings company and a sort of cheer to her lonely, drowsy life. Now Robin, another friend of hers was directly attacked. Even though she said she was fine, and Nami left feigning belief that she was fine, she didn’t believe the girl was fine. Not to mention she had suddenly had a great sense of security with her neighbor around. There was something about him that made her feel more relaxed. She groaned as the passenger door opened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, do you not want me to come with you? I can call someone to pick me up.” she heard that slightly deep, childlike, male voice to her right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She turned her head against the steering wheel to look at him, disappointment etched on her face, even though it wasn’t because of him, it seemed like he thought it was, and he closed the door without getting in. He walked up to the sidewalk in front of where she parked, and began searching his pockets, probably for his phone. The one he left in the car. The one that was currently ringing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked at the phone, planning on telling him it was in the car, when she saw the caller ID. It said ‘Crappy Old Gramps’ and she nearly laughed, thinking that was something he’d do, but she had been intrigued by the small photo that was paired with the ID. She picked up the phone, to inspect the picture at the same time Luffy opened the door remembering his phone was in the car. She jerked, and her finger slipped, accidently answering the call.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Nami, you found it. Can I see it?” Luffy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean to,” she glanced down at the phone after hearing a muffled voice, “Oh, your grandpa is on the phone it seems.” she handed the phone over to Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gramps!” the boy’s face fell back in terror, he grabbed the phone from her and ended the call. “Whew, got out of that one.” he sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who is your grandpa?” Nami asked, taking a chance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gramps?” Luffy asked, “he’s scary.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is he crappy, and old?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! How’d you know?” Luffy asked, his body still partially in the car, from retrieving his phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pointed to the device in his hand, “the caller ID.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, makes sense.” he backed himself out of the car and stood up, “I’m gonna call Franky to pick me up, then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pick him up, that meant he’d be leaving. She wouldn’t have that strange comfort she felt when he was around, but worse than that, she felt like she had betrayed him. Usopp’s words were haunting her, ‘That’s his downfall though, can’t say how many times I’ve seen him betrayed by people he trusted.’ She jumped out of her car, and stood looking over the top of it to Luffy, whose face was half obscured by the phone in his hand. He had made his way away from the car, forgetting to close the passenger door. “Wait! Luffy!” she called, he glanced over at her and grinned. It seemed like it was more of a grin that meant ‘don’t worry, I’ll be out of your hair’ then a ‘hi nami!’ and it hurt her. She didn’t really know why, she had betrayed many people to no end, but with Luffy, his blind trust in her really hurt her, for him to think that she had betrayed him. That she had let him down. It was like being a child promised with ice cream, but once you reach the vendor, you don’t get the tasty cold treat. She closed her door, and made her way over to him, he seemed to be wrapping up the conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, so Franky, if you don’t mind picking me up, I’m at-” he was interrupted by Nami pulling his arm quickly down, so his phone was away from his ear. “Nami?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nervously laughed, now that the phone was next to her mouth, “Uh, um, don’t worry, I’m his neighbor, I drove him here, I can take him back.” she nearly stuttered out her sentence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But Nami-” Luffy began, but she grabbed the phone out of his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Franky, right?” She asked into the phone. “Luffy was calling for you to pick him up, right?” she paused waiting for his response, “yeah, so that was a misunderstanding, I can take him home, besides we’re neighbors.” She nervously laughed, and was about to say bye, when Franky had said something that made her cheeks and ears burn red. “No, nothing like that! We are neighbors, that’s all!” She slammed her thumb down on the end call button, not noticing the sudden fall in Luffy’s face, when she had turned away. She turned back to face him, “I can take you, sorry about groaning when you opened the door, it was about something else.” she smiled nervously, before handing him back his phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” he replied, feigning a smile, “I get it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Great, she thought, I said something to hurt him again. Was it something about his grandpa, was it because I grabbed the phone from him. Deciding on not being able to just discern what was wrong with him by looking at him, she decided to voice her thoughts, “Hey, um, Luffy, are you alright?” He nodded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made her way to the car, “If you say so,” she gestured to the open passenger door, “you coming?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, we’re neighbors, right?” He sat down in the car, and pulled the door shut. Before buckling himself up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After she pulled out of the parking lot, and she was on the road back home, she glanced over at him. “I don’t mean to sound rude, or anything, but you don’t seem as happy as you did before.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked at her and smiled, “I’m happy, see!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh huh,” she agreed, skeptically. “Then say something!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just did.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Say more, be all giddy, and talkative, it’s weird for you being quiet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re being strange.” he replied, “I’m not talking because you weren’t talking, it’s simple.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami stopped screaming at him, he was right, though she wished he wasn’t. “Can I turn on the radio?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s your car.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a little while, she pulled into her street, and eventually up her driveway. He had been quiet the whole way. Before he got out of the car, she decided to speak up, “Did I say something that offended you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” he replied, staring straight into her eyes, “You were just being Nami.” He unbuckled himself and opened the passenger door. “I have to go, anyway.” he said, pulling his phone out, and calling a number, as he disappeared into the orchard of her orange trees in the direction of his house.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I did something, Nami couldn’t help but think. She must have said something that hurt him, and now he wasn’t talking to her. She would make it up to him somehow, but her maps were calling to her at the moment, and she locked her car, and made her way into her house. He was a nice kid, she thought to herself as she was angling her compass. As she sketched out the curvature of a mountain, she was reminded of something Franky had said to her on the phone, and her cheeks flushed, and her pencil slipped, causing her to have to restart the map all over again. There was no way she’d do that to him, right, he wasn’t that kind of person. Besides when she had fallen into his lap the first day nothing happened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not being able to work on the map, she decided to get herself a drink, and sit on her balcony. She had poured herself a glass of wine, and leaned against the railing looking out over her trees. She noticed him in his yard kicking, and punching, at the punching bag hung up in the giant tree in his front yard. Wishing she was able to actually see him as he worked out, she studied him from a distance. It wasn’t going well for her though, as any detail that was desired to see, like the flex of his muscles, or the curvature the sweat accentuated as it fell down his sleek abs. She could only imagine things like that. Her face was heating up just thinking about his toned body, and she partially wished she could run her fingers over his scar tissue, the one on his chest, and the one under his eye. She sighed, and stared at him. He had taken off the white tank top he was wearing, and the flip flops, as he continued to fight the punching bag.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had long finished her glass of wine, but he was still going at it. He didn’t seem to have a stopping point. She sighed, even though she wanted to watch more, it was a burden straining her eyes to see such far distances, he was about a quarter mile away after all. She turned and went back inside, needing to finish those maps, and digitize them, before sending them over to that company.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After reaching a good stopping point, having finished at least three maps, and already had them sent off, she still needed to do a few more, but for now, this would do, she got up and decided to tend to her orange trees. She grabbed herself an apron, and gardening gloves, before grabbing all of the needed utensils for her favorite plants. She walked out into the yard, and glanced at the sun, it was already at least three o’clock, and she still had to cover at least three rows of trees today. She made her way down one, tending to each tree with equal care and affection. By the time she reached the end of the row, she glanced at Luffy’s house, the one that used to be her best friend’s but was not owned by a childish adult filled with many mysteries. She sighed, and put down her basket, deciding to rest for a little while.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy wasn’t outside, or at least that’s what she had thought. She wasn’t sure she could face him. He probably didn’t even want to be her friend anymore. No, that was going too far. She shook her head at even thinking that kind-hearted manchild would not want to be her friend. She took off her glove, to wipe the sweat off her forehead. Slightly annoyed that it was summer, and she couldn’t just pick as many oranges as she wanted to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yo.” she heard beside her, and glanced over, Luffy was sitting on the fence separating the two yards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” She exclaimed, “I thought you were mad at me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” he asked, sliding over, and landing in her lawn, under her trees, “Why would I be mad at you? You’re my friend.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But, I…” Nami shook her head slightly, “I thought I offended you, and you weren’t talking to me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, the neighbor thing. I just misunderstood at first,” he giggled, “I had thought you had meant that we were just people living next to each other, but you meant we were friends.” he continued giggling as he sat down across from her, under another orange tree.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Nami smiled, though she only just now knew what had offended him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Besides, I knew we were friends, I just wanted my friends to know we were friends.” he smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, um,” Nami began, remembering him punching and kicking the bag, “Do you normally punch that bag?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Luffy asked, straightening himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The punching bag, I saw you punching and kicking it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I kind of have to, daily routine, and all.” he sighed, slouching, “I wish I could just eat, and that was it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What, why can’t you? Is it a habit that’s hard to break?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A habit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A rabbit?” Luffy was very confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, a habit, is it hard to break the habit of kicking and punching the bag.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s a habit?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stared at him blankly for a few moments, but on realizing that he genuinely didn’t know, she decided to explain to him, “Sometimes when you start doing something, everyday, or when you do a certain thing, and then years later you can’t stop doing it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, so it’s a mystery thing.” Luffy replied, confident. Though, Nami just sighed, it seemed like he was just categorizing it as something he wouldn’t understand. “No, I have to do it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For work?” Nami asked, trying to hide a smirk. She’d figure out where he works, and why he has such a nice house.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah!” he said, pointing at her, “for that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, so what do you do with all that punching and kicking?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Punch and kick.” he tilted his head, “are there other things to do with punches and kicks?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, no.” Nami frowned, “I was just wondering where you go with it. Like with all that training, where do you go?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No where,” Luffy replied, puckering his lips and looking away again, a bead of sweat falling down his forehead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, I won’t ask you where you work anymore.” Nami sighed, giving up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing out here, anyway?” Luffy asked, rising from his seat to look into the empty basket.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tending my trees.” Nami replied, leaning back against the tree that she had finished tending to before Luffy showed up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see.” he looked up at the trees. “Aren’t there supposed to be oranges?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, but those ones aren’t ripe yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They aren’t orange.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They aren’t ripe yet,” Nami repeated herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, I can’t eat them?” Luffy asked, crouching in front of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, not until they are ripe.” Nami shook her head, before opening her eyes, as she had closed them, trying to relax.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When will they be ripe?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You aren’t eating my oranges.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on! I wanna try one!” he pouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine.” Nami replied, getting up, “Carry my things.” she said, handing her basket, and all of the supplies she used to tend to the trees to Luffy. He juggled them in his arms, trying not to drop them. “Follow me.” she said, leading back in the direction of her house. Luffy following behind close on her heels.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Now don't worry the suspense and action is only just beginning...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Oranges</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>If there was one thing Nami learned, it was that Luffy was an annoying neighbor. Sure, he disappeared for a short while of time, then came back and was as loud as ever goofing off with his friends. She couldn’t recall how many times she yelled down from her balcony, or from the coverage of her orange trees for them to just shut up. But for some reason, she got used to it rather quickly, and so did he, it seemed like. She was beginning to understand how his childlike behavior was really a blessing in disguise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Here he was, sitting at her island counter, because she told him he couldn’t sit on it, waiting for her to finish juicing her oranges. She made the mistake of telling him that she didn’t just make cookies with the oranges, and she made other things like juice, cakes, cocktails, muffins, and the like, and now he wanted one of those. He hadn’t shut up about it, the entire walk through her orchard and back into her home, so she gave in, and decided to give him some juice, because it was easy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s taking you so long!” Luffy mumbled, and folded his torso over the countertop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just eat an orange while you wait,” Nami replied, annoyed with his antics, and rolled an orange from the basket on her counter, beside the sink, to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, Nami!” he said, and grabbed the orange in his hands. Nami was too busy juicing the orange to notice both of their mistakes, though it was mainly his.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bleh,” she heard behind her, and spinned around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did you say, Luffy!” she nearly screamed, but then noticed him holding the orange in his hand, staring at it, with his tongue sticking out. There was a large bite out of the side, and Nami wanted to smack her head against the wall because of his idiocy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, this tastes gross.” he said, and pushed the orange away, “you sure you didn’t use something else in the cookies?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy,” Nami smiled, though her eyebrows twitched, “Did you just bite into the orange, like it was an apple?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” he scratched his chin, “I guess, why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It. Is. An. Orange!” Nami said, giving emphasis to each word.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t just bite into an orange, Luffy!” She raised her arms in the air, “You have to peel it first!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Peel it?” Luffy tilted his head, “why would you have to peel it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami sighed, and leaned her hands onto the island, facing him, “Luffy, do you peel the banana peel off a banana before eating it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A banana has a peel!?” Luffy exclaimed, excited, as if he just found out something new in this world.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>How the heck was this man in his twenties, Nami thought to herself, he must have lived an extremely sheltered life, from reality! “Yes, they always have.” she sighed, “do you peel the peel off of a fruit before you eat it? Like a kiwi?” Nami asked, thinking surely he’d get the peel off of it before eating it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bleh,” Luffy shook his head, as if a terrible memory just came to him, “kiwi’s are gross! They're all hairy, and itchy, too!” Luffy said, and stuck his tongue out, as if trying to get the kiwi taste, which he didn’t have, off his tongue.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, you just bite into the fruit?” Nami asked, “you know that some peels are dangerous to consume, right, Luffy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” Luffy jumped in his seat, then he relaxed himself, "that's okay, poison doesn't hurt me." He giggled, and rested his chin on his arms as he leaned into the counter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It isn't exactly poison, Luffy," Nami began explaining, before she realized what he said, and had to do a double take, "wait, did you say that poison doesn't hurt you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy stared back at her, as if he thought she was deaf, "yeah, and?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That isn't normal!" Nami exclaimed, "when did you develop an immunity to poison? What kind of poison? Deadly poisons, or just food poisoning?" She knew her sentence didn't make much sense, but this just packed into the mysteries she still didn't know about him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Poison." Luffy replied, "like, all of them, I guess?" He tilted his head in confusion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But when!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy's eyes narrowed, and he looked off to the side, "I don't know," he said, sucking his lips in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're a terrible liar." Nami sighed, but she gave up on trying to uncover all of his mysterious secrets, or at least tried to force herself to believe she did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The orange is still gross," Luffy replied, holding up the fruit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"That's because you ate the peel, Luffy," Nami said, and grabbed the fruit from him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hey! Don't take it!" He grabbed it back, "I'm not saying I didn't like it!" He took another bite if the fruit, without bothering to get rid of the peel.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami cringed, "You just said it was gross."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, it doesn't taste like what I thought it would, so it's gross." Luffy replied, gulping down the bite he had taken.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You're still eating the peel."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I think it's this thick orange thing that makes it taste gross," Luffy said, poking at the orange.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, because you don't eat that." Nami sighed, "you're supposed to peel that part off."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Eh!" Luffy's eyes went wide, and Nami thought he'd finally understood, "But that's a waste of food, Nami!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Fine, eat the peel." Nami waved at him, in dismissal before returning to juicing the orange. "Did you forget everything I said?" She muttered to herself, though she was addressing him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had been quiet for a little while, and Nami smiled. It wasn't like him to be quiet, and she liked this sudden peace. It felt like he wasn't even in her house. She grabbed another orange half, and pressed it down into the juicer. Twisting and pressing down as much as possible so that she could get all the juice out. Her hands were hurting, but she loved her oranges so she pushed through it. Wasting an orange was a disgrace, she agreed with Luffy on that, but not eating the peel. She'd use those as mulch, and fertilizer for her orange trees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What does that do?" Luffy asked over her right shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami froze, not expecting him there, not expecting the sudden noise. She tilted her head to the left, and looked over at him, "I'm juicing them."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned his head to face hers, "Is it fun?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Y-yeah," Nami replied, backing her face up just a little more, his nose was only about two inches, not less, away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Can I try?" He asked, leaning closer as his eagerness overcame him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami let go of the orange half and the juicer she was securing and took a few steps further to the left, "back up a little," she muttered, before answering him, "Yeah, be my guest." She gestured to the orange half, "just don't waste anything."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, yeah, no problem!" Luffy waved her off, before grabbing the orange half and placing it on the point of the juicer as he had seen her do. He pressed it down, and Nami noticed his muscles flex. He twisted it around, as he had observed, "Like this, Nami?" He glanced over at her for approval.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami nodded, then noticed a whole lot more juice was coming out when he did it, then when she did. She decided it was kind of strange watching his arms as the juiced her oranges, and decided to change the subject on her mind by asking him a question, "Did you finish the orange?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mhm." He replied, focused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Was it badly tasting?" Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mhm."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Do you want another?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mhm."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Is steak gross?" Nami chanced, realizing his responses were the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Mhm." He replied, and Nami giggled, before he lifted his eyes from the orange, "wait, no it's not!" He said, turning to face her, "it's delicious!" She giggled some more, he was like a child. "You tricked me," he pouted, and put the orange down, the peel against the counter, and Nami could see it was practically bone dry, for a fruit, that is.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wow!" She said, pushing him slightly out of the way, "you are really good at this!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He giggled, "thanks!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Can you do these?" Nami asked, as she held four more orange halves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sure!" He said, grabbing one of the halves, "it was fun."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thanks!" Nami smiled, as she grabbed a pitcher, and the other ingredients to make her mom's famous orange juice. That included a little bit of xylitol, because it was healthier than sugar, and a little bit of vodka. When she was little she had watched her mom make the recipe without the vodka, multiple times, but everytime it was a special occasion, Bellamere would pull out the bottle of vodka, and pour just a little into the mixture. Of course, there was still water in the juice, so it's strength was diluted, somewhat. When Nami had fully measured the combination of the alcohol, and water, Luffy had raised his juice covered hands in the air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, I finished them," his hands were sticky with the orange juice, "got any more?" He asked, before he began licking his fingers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, that's enough for two servings." Nami said, and put the cork back on the bottle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Ooh!" Luffy's eyes widened as he looked at the bottle, "Zoro never lets me drink that!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Nami said, as she placed the bottle carefully back where she found it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Zoro puts it in almost all of his drinks, and his beers, but whenever I ask him, he just hands me the cup before he's put it in, saying I'm too young, or that I'm a child." Luffy pouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami giggled, she could understand why, "So have you ever had alcohol?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Luffy asked, but then answered himself, "oh, yeah, I've had sake during parties."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, good." Nami responded, before grabbing the jar of juice Luffy had did for her, and pouring the mixture she had made with the ingredients for the juice. Once it was fully combined, she poured two full glasses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made her way with the glasses, with Luffy in tow, to the breakfast table, where the sunset could be clearly seen out the bay windows. She sat the drinks in front of two of the four seats at the round table and sat down at one of them. Luffy took the other seat, and was about to gulp down the delicious looking beverage. "Wait, Luffy!" She said as he grabbed the glass in his hand. He stared at her, with a slight frustrated expression, but let her continue, "you can't just gulp this down like regular orange juice."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Why?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami mentally hit him across the face, this was a drink her mother would make, it was special to her. Now her mother was ill, and not able to pick the oranges, and too weak to make it, hence why Nojiko had left in the first place. "It's special to me," Nami said, in the simplest terms for the idiot to understand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, I'll drink it slowly," Luffy responded, and smiled, "if it's special to you."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami felt her heart flutter, but she knew he was just being kind. She nodded, accepting his kindness, and gently grabbed the glass in her hand, before taking a small sip, closing her eyes, to enjoy the flavor. She frowned, she still couldn't get the taste exactly right, sometimes there was too much water, sometimes too much pulp, not enough orange juice, too little sweetener. This time, since Luffy had made so much orange juice, Nami had poured in too much alcohol. She sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wow! Nami, this is good!" Luffy exclaimed, happily, looking down at his half empty glass.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That's not slow, she wanted to tell him, but how fast he eats, this was considerably slower than normal for him. Still, the way he talked about Zoro not giving him alcohol made it seem, even at the parties he'd been at, he probably didn't have much. She was a little worried, she had a greater tolerance to the beverage than most people, guys, or girls, and she knew she put too much alcohol in. She frowned, "I messed it up."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" He asked, as he looked down at the drink, “It tastes good, though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no, no,” Nami shook her head, “You got more juice out than I normally do, so I added more of the vodka, but I added too much. It doesn’t taste the same.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But it still tastes good, Nami,” Luffy replied and frowned, “I don’t care about you messing up, if it tastes good.” he tilted the glass to his lips, and drank the rest of the cold liquid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you taste the alcohol? It’s a little too strong for this type of drink,” Nami sighed, “It’s supposed to give it just a little bit of a punch, but I’m getting a fist-full.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, I’ve never had it before,” Luffy replied, placing the empty glass down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How good are you at holding your liquor anyway?” Nami asked, taking a small sip of her own drink.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, what’s that supposed to mean?” Luffy tilted his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How long does it take for you to actually get drunk, Luffy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, don’t think I’ve been before,” he shrugged, “Can I have some more? That was really good!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami glanced over at the jar, he had gotten more juice out of them, than she had originally thought, “Yeah, enough for one more glass,” Nami replied, before taking another sip of her drink.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sweet!” Luffy replied, getting to his feet, and taking his glass over to the jar. He sloppily got the orange liquid into the glass, some of it getting onto her marble countertops. She groaned, luckily orange stains are easy to wash off. Luffy happily sat back down with the drink, and drank it ‘slowly’ because Nami wanted him to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Honestly,” Nami said, after he finished the glass, “do you know how to drink any slower?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” Luffy stood to his feet, “I did drink slowly, Nami!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, by downing the drink,” Nami sighed, she’d been doing a lot of that since she met him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You told me to drink it slowly, so I did.” Luffy replied, folding his arms, “you don’t have to be so mean about it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mean?” Nami twitched her eyebrow, “this is my house, and my drinks, it is a family recipe, so you can hold at least a little respect for it, and drink it slower!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But then it takes longer to drink!” Luffy slammed his hands onto the table causing a little bit of Nami’s drink to splash over the sides of her cup.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, so that you can savor the taste!” Nami stated, “Do you really not like the drink, Luffy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I liked it a lot!” Luffy smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, then what’s the matter with savoring the taste?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well…” he giggled, “nothing, I guess!” he sat down, satisfied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami rolled her eyes, and focused back on her drink, before picking it up again, and taking another drink out of it. It wasn’t until Nami finished her drink that she realized Luffy was acting strange, or rather strange for him. During their conversations he was beginning to laugh at almost anything she said, and it was beginning to drive her up the wall. She asked him something extremely serious, as she thought about Robin, and the accident she had been a victim of, and he just started cackling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” She yelled, pushing her now empty glass to the side, “It isn’t funny, Robin almost got hurt!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know!” Luffy laughed, “But…” his sentence got lost in a fit of laughter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is very serious, Luffy, could you stop laughing for one second?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy tried to respond, but his laughter overtook him, and he ended up falling out of his chair, “You look so serious, Nami!” he cried, rolling around on the ground, not even trying to contain his giggles.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami relaxed into her chair, and was about to take another drink of her juice, when she realized it was gone. She sighed, then glared at the never ending ball of laughter, “Luffy, you’re drunk, aren’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Luffy laughed, “What makes you think that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re being crazy,” Nami sighed, “but I guess that makes sense, on why you and no one else really think you get drunk, you’re already a ball of laughter anyways, so what’s that times ten?” she sighed, and stood to grab their drinks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ball of laughter!” Luffy laughed, “Laughter isn’t a ball, Nami, you’re so silly!” he fell back onto the floor, weak to his laughing lungs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah, says the ball of laughter.” Nami rolled her eyes and made her way to the sink. Great, she thought, I just got my nextdoor neighbor drunk, and he’s basically like a child. How am I going to explain this to his friends?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Nami?” Luffy said behind her, and for a moment she thought he had stopped laughing, but then she hurt a chuckle, and turned around to see his watery eyes as he held his mouth closed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Luffy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You smell like oranges,” Luffy said, before giggling, as his hands released his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If he hadn’t been doubly drunk, Nami would have blushed, but as it were, and he was now laughing after he said it, which made it sound like he was making fun of her, she hit him over the head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ow!” he laughed, “Nami that hurts!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was as if the laughter virus was caught by this idiot, because he couldn’t stop smiling, nor laughing. Like any emotion but laughter and happiness was void in his heart. His eyes were crying with tears of laughter, and she was getting more irritated by the minute. It wasn’t long though, after she had locked herself in the bathroom to free herself from the giggles that imprisoned her ears, that the laughter ceased. Not hearing his contagious laughter anymore, Nami made her way out of the master bathroom, and chanced going downstairs. “Luffy?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she got to the kitchen, she found an extremely tired Luffy, slouching his body over the island counter, “Hi, Nami,” he breathed out, as his eyes threatened to close.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, are you tired?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I want to go to bed,” he rolled himself over, colliding with the floor, though he didn’t react to it, like he was rubber or something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why don’t you go back home?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good idea,” he said, as he drowsily got himself to a sitting position, “I’ll get going, then,” he stood up, slowly, and stumbled his way over to the front door, before slamming face-first into the wall beside it, “Nami, you’re door disappeared.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s beside you,” Nami pointed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Luffy replied, and opened it, “Well, bye Nami, see you tomorrow!” he said, before falling down her front steps.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” She said, running over to her open front door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was face first in the dirt, though his legs were bent over, and his heels nearly touched the back of his head, his hands were extended further along the ground, ahead of him. He looked like a contortionist. “I’m okay!” he yelled against the dirt, before flinging his legs backwards, and forcing himself to stand up, and walk away, “I’m okay,” he said clearly, before turning around and waved good-bye.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hehe... sorry, this chapter was very cringy... She drugged his low-alcohol-tolerant-self</p><p>PLEASE COMMENT your thoughts! It would mean a lot to me!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Suspicions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami had gotten Luffy’s phone number the last time they had talked, when she brought him in to try some of her fresh oranges, recently picked. He had enjoyed them thoroughly, and she had a decent time cleaning up the sticky juices after he had waved good-bye to her. When he was quite a distance into her orchard, she yelled at him to stop, and ran from her door to him. That was when she had asked him for his number. In his drunken state, he had stared at her blankly for a few seconds, before his tired laughter burst through, saying if she wanted to call, he was just next door. Nami had known that, it didn’t fail to catch her attention, but she made the excuse, looking back that’s what she had decided it was, saying that friends exchange phone numbers. His reaction was priceless, and she mentally took a photo of his surprised face, as ‘realization’ dawned his features. He slowly had pulled out his phone, handing it to her so she could put in her number, though she had to hold it to his face to unlock. After she had her number in his phone, she texted herself, so she’d have his.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, is it just Luffy, then?” she asked, referring to his full name, but he hadn’t known that, and was tired and drunk, so he responded with: “yeah, my name is Luffy.” She sighed, thanking him and returned to her house. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now here she was, over a week later, with her phone in her hand, staring at his contact. She still didn’t have a picture of him, and when she googled ‘Luffy’ - she thought that since he was loaded she’d be able to find a photo of him - everything that came up weren’t pictures of him. One site even said ‘classified information.’ She began to wonder who exactly he was, and became intent on getting the information out of him. So that was why she was staring at his contact in her phone. She had noticed his car had been vacant from his home the past few days, and when she knocked on his door he hadn’t answered, heck she had gotten Usopp’s number as well, when they were at the pool, and when she called him, he didn’t even know where Luffy was, if he wasn’t at home, he had said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t think she’d be this concerned about a man she only knew for two weeks, but when she had first got the phone number, he had texted her, asking if she wanted any of his friends’ numbers. She had responded with, ‘I’ll get them when I meet them,’ and he had a response with ‘ok’ in all caps. That was the last she even heard of him, she hadn’t even seen him leaving his house, or being chaotic in the backyard. But then again, she hadn’t really seen him much anyway, before she had made her way to his house, or Vivi’s old one, because she was interested in his car. She knew it would be weird, calling him, because she had never been the one to call a boy. Sanji was the one who always called her, because he would say sappy things like how he wanted to hear her voice, but that only happened when they didn’t hang out for a while. Arlong would only call her when he was angry at her, which unfortunately happened a lot, especially after he betrayed her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now here she was, about to call her next door neighbor, because she hadn’t seen him in a week. It sounded as if she was some sort of stocker, she thought to herself. She barely knew the guy, and he was mysterious as heck. Maybe that’s why she was calling him, she surmised. But when really diving into it, that didn’t make much sense, she barely knew him, so of course he was mysterious. She sighed, what if he had gone back to visit his family because someone was sick? What if her calling would interrupt the work that he horribly hid that he didn’t have? What if he just didn’t want to be around her anymore? It hurt her to think that, but she was kind of a jerk to him, when they first met, forcing him to pay for her clothes, and the incident in the car, before the reached the pool only made her think that it would make sense to try to get away from someone who seemed like an obvious pervert.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She decided that it didn’t really matter, and was going to close out of the contact, and call her sister, to get her opinion on the matter, when she accidentally hit call. She panicked, and right when she was going to end it, right before it went to voicemail, he picked up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Nami, what’s up?” he asked, in the same tone he had answered Zoro’s call when they first met.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stood there, staring at her phone, she decided to slowly bring it to her ear, “Hi, Luffy, I was just wondering why you haven’t been at your house, I wanted to-”she thought up a lie as quickly as she could, “give you some more orange cookies, and you weren’t home the past few days, and they are going bad, now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” his voice seemed so happy, “you’re so nice, Nami! I’m not home right now, and” there was a pause, “what” she heard his voice faintly, “no, I can’t go back yet” he was talking to someone else, his attention seemed to turn back to the phone, because he said, “I won’t be back for a couple more days, sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Nami frowned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How long do you think the cookies will last?” he asked, and she wished she had just said that she was worried about him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, probably two more days,” she lied, deciding to continue with her awful lie she regretted telling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see,” he stopped talking for a moment, “One second.” he said, and he must have decided to put himself on mute, cause she couldn’t hear anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She nodded though, even though he couldn’t see her, she didn’t even really know why she was calling in the first place, it wasn’t like her. So what if she hadn’t seen someone, though, if Vivi hadn’t called her, in a week, she would have called her as well. Nojiko, Vivi, and Robin still called her almost daily, so she decided that she was doing this because he was a friend. She was worried, as a friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She finally heard his voice again, “Did you hear me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I didn’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I knew it, I did mute myself,” she heard him say, more to someone else, though he didn’t bring his phone away from his ear, “I can try to come back by tomorrow evening at the earliest, they said. Your cookies are amazing, Nami, sorry I couldn’t be there when they were fresh!” his voice got more faint, “what are you giggling about?” his voice got louder again, “Is that okay, Nami?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was curious about what the people in the room with him were talking about, and she got a faint idea that they might have thought she was his girlfriend, or something, but she quickly dismissed it with the thought, ‘I’m his neighbor, nothing more.’</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami?” she heard his voice again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” she thought back to what he had said, “yeah, they should still be good by then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Awesome!” he replied, and she could practically see his precious smile, “Sorry, I can’t talk anymore, I gotta go, bye!” and he hung up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami pulled the phone away from her face with more questions than answers. She now knew he was fine, and was coming home in around two days, but she still wondered where he was, why he couldn’t come back sooner, and who was in the room with him. What did the guy even do for a living? She sighed, and noticed she had missed a call from Sanji while she was on the phone with Luffy. She hadn’t hung out with him, or gone to the restaurant he worked at, since before her sister left, so it made sense for him to be worried, she figured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She decided to call him back, on having never missed one of his calls before, he picked up immediately, “Hey, Sanji-kun, I saw that you called, was it anything important?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Nami-swan!” he exclaimed, way too energetic at her call, “I was just wondering if you were alright! Are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m great, why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I heard your sister, Nojiko-chwan, moved out, and I wanted to make sure you and Robin-chwan were alright! I hadn’t heard from you two in a while, so I was concerned.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Vivi’s called you though?” Nami asked, slightly annoyed at his overly affectionate voice over the phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aye! Vivi-swan has called me numerous times!” he replied, and she could tell he was swooning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just make sure you still leave room in your life for your girlfriend,” Nami replied, knowing he cared for women way too much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pudding-swan is wonderful as always, Nami-swan.” Sanji said over the phone, “I actually just picked her up from work!” he said happily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You will never have Sanji-” an angry female voice, Nami only recognized as Pudding’s, said into the phone, before her voice went soft, and Nami could imagine her blushing, “-san!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami sighed, “Well, nice talking to you, Sanji-kun and Pudding,” Nami knew Pudding was overly jealous, and possessive of her boyfriend, “I have to go now, bye!” Nami lied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She plopped herself backwards onto her bed, not really knowing what she was supposed to do. She had gotten ahead on her maps on the weekend, having a bit of spare time, even though she did have to tend to her orchard. The weather was becoming less scorching, so she had to care for the trees less, as the air was becoming more moist. She stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes, before she heard her doorbell ring.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stood up, and made her way down the stairs, and through her spacious living room to the front door. “Hi, Robin,” Nami greeted as she opened the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Nami, I had a bit of free time, so I thought I’d drop bye, do you care for the company?” Robin asked, holding a small stack of books.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, come right in!” Nami exclaimed, before examining the books, “Are these on navigation?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, yes, they are, I knew you are quite skilled when it comes to things such as this, and I thought you’d love to expand your knowledge on it.” Robin answered, as she accepted the invitation into the home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Robin!” Nami smiled, happily taking the books, and dashing off to her library to place them among the shelves.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami?” Robin asked, when the hostess had re-entered the living room, crossing her legs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Robin?” Nami responded, taking a seat across from her on one of her couches.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Remember a little while back,” Robin began, closing her book, and folding her hands atop the cover, “when you came with those two handsome young men to check on me after the incident?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” Nami asked, not knowing where she was going with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did the one that left with you seem any familiar to you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Robin nodded, a slight frown on her face, “Must have been imagining things,” she smiled again, “Well, the young man that had decided to join me in my apartment and I, actually hit it off.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” Nami exclaimed, nearly leaping from her seat, “You and Roronoa Zoro!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Robin replied, slightly offended, though it wouldn’t show in her face, nor voice. “Is there a problem with that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I just, I never thought that he would end up with someone.” Nami sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I see,” Robin placed her book aside, and leaned forward, placing her elbow on her leg, and rested her cheek in her palm, “and why is that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well he always seemed so reserved, and quiet, anytime he was on camera, or even in his matches, I guess I hadn’t assumed that he would be into girls. I thought his mind was on his competitions. That’s what it sounded like in his interviews.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see.” Robin smiled, “he is. He is very reserved, and skeptical.” she sighed, and straightened her position in her chair, “it took me a little while to crack his hard shell, a few days, in fact.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” Nami replied, nodding, “I guess that makes sense.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about you and that young black haired man, he seems quite caring.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He is, but no, we’re nothing like that.” Nami laughed, “I’ve only known him for two weeks, Robin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And?” the older woman raised her eyebrow. Nami knew why, she had just finished telling her how she was hitting it off with a man she had only known for two minutes, if not less.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t work that quickly, Robin.” Nami frowned, “He’s an idiot, anyway.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Robin asked, amused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, he won’t even tell me where he works, and he’s super bad at lying. Keeps saying he has no job, too.” Nami retracted herself into the cushions of the couch, “besides, I think he’s asexual.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What makes you say that?” Robin asked, feeling that there was more to this than Nami would let on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, well, you know.” Nami sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The orange haired woman sat up, her face red, “It isn’t any big deal, really.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I never said it was.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was a complete and utter accident.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I believe you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It wasn’t like I intended for it to happen, Robin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I almost wish he would have reacted like any man would, when that kind of thing happens.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mhm.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It really is his fault though, I mean, he was driving a little too fast.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Robin became even more intrigued.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, he was beginning to look off the road, too, and that’s why I grabbed his face in the first place.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Robin raised her eyebrows, slightly, thinking something not quite on the lines that Nami’s story was going to end up in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“His turn was way too fast, why’d he have to miss the right street in the first place.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So that’s why it happened, honest.” Nami said, and brought her hands to cover her face completely embarrassed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not disagreeing, Nami.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I couldn’t catch myself, and my face landed in his lap.” Nami mumbled, but still understandable to her guest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Robin’s eyes widened, “Oh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Robin!” Nami snapped, getting up from her couch, “At least have a better reaction than that!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, Nami, but you just said your face was in his crotch.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami covered her face with a pillow and collapsed back onto the couch, “I know, I know,” she groaned, but peeked over the pillow, “but he wasn’t even a pervert about it, either. He had no reaction, Robin. He just asked if I was okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He sounds nice, to me.” Robin smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wish I could forget it ever happened.” Nami whined, “Maybe it would be easier if it was just me and him in the car, but his best friend was in the back seat, Robin!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see.” Robin rose from her seat, and crossed the living room to the mess of a girl, “So why are you worried about him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not anymore,” Nami mumbled, before pulling the pillow away from her, “How did you know I was worried about him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s all over your face, Nami.” Robin smiled, and rubbed her hand against the younger girl’s arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He hasn’t been at his home since we came back from your place last week.” Nami mumbled, “he’s my friend, of course I should be worried.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I understand, Nami.” Robin rose from the couch, “Come on, let’s go have a girl’s day, and get your mind off it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s a good idea, Robin,” Nami replied, taking the black-haired woman’s hand, and stood up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they reached the plaza, in district one of Sabaody. It was quite the drive, but Nami was grateful for the wind in her face, since Robin’s car was a convertible. They made their way into one of the ice cream shops, and just after they had got their ice cream, shots were fired, shattering the windows.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get down!” Robin exclaimed, as she pushed herself and Nami behind a table that she knocked over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everyone put your hands up, if you give us your cash, we’ll let you go unharmed!” A man yelled, aiming a gun around the room, as his subordinates did the same. “Don’t worry, we’re just here to help you fellows out!” he exclaimed laughing, “Not even the special forces can save you now!”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>One of my biggest cliffhangers yet!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Vigilante</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami pushed herself to peak over the edge of the fallen table, Robin behind her, their ice cream forgotten. The man who yelled made his way to the main register, and waved the gun around at the people behind the counter, who all ducked for safety. His men laughed, as he slammed his fist against the register, and leaned over slightly, “Hey, lady!” he yelled, looking at the woman who had previously been behind the register, “You gonna give us the cash?” she was shaking, so he turned around and glanced around the room, “You guys want to die?” he asked, and fired three shots. Everyone, besides Robin, ducked for cover. “Hey, woman,” he said looking over to Nami’s black haired friend, “You look brave, care to join us?” he brought the gun to her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Put the gun down,” a voice was heard behind the group of terrorists, “you’re not scaring anyone with that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” the man exclaimed, turning around, and marching over to his men, “who said that!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said that you drew the gun, so put your life on the line.” the voice repeated, and a gunshot was fired.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man fell onto the ground, dead. Blood was spreading across the tiled floors of the ice cream shop. Nami held in the urge to gag. Robin rubbed her back, and peeked over the edge of the table. There was someone in a black leather suit, red button-up and black tie, wearing black sleek sunglasses. There was a black hat on his head, though it seemed to be covering up another hat. His hand held a gun pointing to the air, smoke coming out of it, though the bullet had gone through the ceiling. The people that were with the man dead on the ground looked at the newcomer, he didn’t even have a gun, however one guy panicked, and pointed to the top of a building a distance away, where a man, though difficult to make out was triumphantly holding a slingshot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Robin smiled, there he was again. Her savior from the car crash. He was the very person that had gotten in the way of the vehicle that seemed to be aiming to kill her. Behind him was a man wearing a black bandana, a black leather suit, a dark green button-up and black tie. Instead of flip-flops like the guy in the hat, he wore combat boots. He also had three top-of-the-line swords attached to his hip, they were coated in a black leather casings over their sheathes, to hide the designs it seemed like. He was also wearing sunglasses, though that didn’t help to hide the three gold shining earrings in his left ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami peeked over the edge of the table with Robin, these gangster terrorists looked like they didn’t stand a chance. A new person appeared behind them, wearing a mask over his nose, and black sunglasses, he had a black leather suit with a royal blue button-up and black tie. He wore standard black business shoes. Though he wore glasses, his blond hair covered up his right eye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you alright?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Geeze, Number Seven,” the swordsman stated, annoyed, “you’re late.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“At least I didn’t cut the people down, marimo!” the black masked man yelled back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Calm down,” the man in the hat stated, holding up his hands, “Just make sure everyone is alright, Black Leg.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, Captain,” Black Leg, the blond man in the black mask, stated, before going to the women, “Are you alright, mademoiselles?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Robin replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oi, Pirate Hunter,” the supposed captain called out, “clear away for them to leave, it doesn’t look like these guys are going to make it easy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah, I hear you, Captain,” the man with the swords, Pirate Hunter, said, before unsheathing his swords, and placing one in his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The captain got into a fighting stance, “I’m ready when you are!” he said to the people ravaging the ice cream shop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who the heck are you anyway!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Straw Hat,” the captain smirked, before plunging through the hordes of the gang, and terrorists attacking him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Straw hat?” Nami muttered, as Black Leg, led the women out through the back entrance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Marimo, don’t kill all of them!” he called back to Pirate Hunter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pirate Hunter swung his swords together, and sliced down three of the men, the captain, Straw Hat, it seemed, had already knocked out many of the group. A few shots were fired from further up, the top of the building. Had you been able to see him, he would have been wearing a black bandana, sniper glasses, and a black suit, like the others, with a mustard yellow button-up and black tie, like the others, he had a different type of shoe, black hiking boots. He had a black slingshot, and a bag across his torso. He fired a shot, and it exploded as soon as it hit the ground, into a smoke screen. The people on his side appreciated the gesture, while the ones fighting back were annoyed by it. Their attacks were hindered, as the smoke got into their eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Black Leg had kicked a few people, and stood in a handstand, and spun around, kicking his attackers’ jaws. Before he’d get up and guide the unofficial hostages out of the building.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One time, Nami swore that it seemed his leg was on fire, but since his pants hadn’t been cinged, she thought she must have just imagined it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who are you guys?” Nami asked, after they got their way outside, through the back entrance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Classified.” Black Leg responded, before running back in, “I have to keep you ladies safe!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Doesn’t he remind you of someone?” Robin asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji?” Nami responded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mhm,” Robin agreed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But Sanji is with Pudding right now, he called me right before you came.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess it's another woman pleaser than.” Robin sighed, “Unless Pudding was murdered, and he’s here to get his revenge.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Robin, stop being so dark.” Nami sighed, as the two women made their way away from the building, and to Robin’s parked car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t expect some black suited super agents to come and save us from the terrorists,” Nami said, as they were nearing the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It sure isn’t something you see everyday,” Robin replied, glancing back, as if in hopes they were alright. She could have sworn he man in the black bandana had green hair. The scar on his face, that was hidden by his sunglasses, and the piercings in his ear, seemed way too familiar to her, not to mention the fact that he carried three swords. If he had green hair, her suspicions would be accurate that they really were back, but he had been too far away to really tell, and the black bandana covered most of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know who they are,” Robin said, once they were safely in the car, the top had been raised when they parked, “but the captain, Straw Hat, was it? was the one who made sure I hadn’t gotten injured a week ago.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really? I’ll have to thank him sometime.” Nami decided.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t contact them though, I think they’re vigilantes.” Robin smirked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Vigilantes?” Nami looked at her friend, as they drove away from the crime, “You mean those people who ‘do the right thing’ but not in accordance with the government?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I mean, someone just shot one of their leading members, remember?” Robin said, glancing over at her friend, before her eyes went back on the road.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s a little terrifying.” Nami replied, “Aren’t you scared about them at all?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not if they’re just here to do the right thing, Nami.” Robin replied, and Nami reminisced on what Robin had told her of her past, it was far from breezy. It made Nami feel a little selfish, about her own past. She glanced out the window, the trees, and grass going by in a blur, she sighed, “Do you know anything more about them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I don’t” Robin admitted, “though there's a faint rumor, that you can only find if you dig for it, it’s hard to find any information on them really.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami nodded, as she continued to watch the scenery. So they were for justice, but not really going by the law, but not really against it either. It seemed rather strange. She always had a slight distaste for vigilantes. After all, her ex was one, even though he didn’t do anything good. He just kind of took control, he was more of a terrorist than anything. She was glad she was free from him now, she wasn’t really able to tell who it was that yelled at her once he was defeated. Something about let’s be friends. She never saw his face, and doubted he saw hers, but she wanted to meet the guy who saved her from that beast of a man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s the rumor?” Nami asked, thoughts swirling through her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That the captain of this vigilante group, is a Monkey. The grandson that’s been missing for a long time, even reported dead.” Robin replied, not seeing Nami’s wide eyed reaction.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I had to edit this one a little bit more. I'm sorry if it isn't as long as the other ones, I felt like this was all I could add to this chapter, and still end on a sturdy note.</p><p>If you want, you can call this a cliff-hanger, I'd love that.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Injured</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Monkey, as in the Monkey D’s. Nami couldn’t even sleep that night, she even forgot to make the cookies, so that whenever Luffy had come back she’d have something to back up her lie. She turned over in her bed, the sun shining through her balcony windows. She wanted to get some shut eye, at least. But everytime she closed her eyes, Arlong’s nasty face came into view. He had forced her to date him, though he was at least ten years older than her, in return for her family’s safety. All because she had a natural talent in cartography. She never even saw him use her maps, they just piled up. He was a jerk of a man. After she had already been with him for eight months, did he finally allow her to leave his home, without him, that is, it was ridiculous. Sure, from outward appearances, they seemed like a happy couple, him getting her gifts, treating her to dinner, and whatnot. She was silently grateful that her sister had run into someone to help her. Nojiko said that he had concealed his identity, so she didn’t even know who he was, nor the two people that were with him, as their identity had also been concealed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In hopes of keeping her family safe, Nami had stabbed her own hand to get the more cowardly of the three saviors out of her business, feigning that she had stabbed him, instead. The man who helped her, called out to her asking to be her friend, never saw her face, not did she his. He placed a hat on her head, as a promise to save her, after she stabbed her arm in realizing her boyfriend at the time was going to harm her family. Her family had gone after him, Bellamere, her mother, the exception, as she had been hospitalized, near death, too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A hand grabbed her arm, stopping her from hurting herself further. “Help me” was all she could utter, and he placed a hat on her head, before yelling out that he would.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was bloodied and injured, when he climbed out of the rubble of Arlong’s abode, and called out to her, “Let’s be friends!” she felt special, in that moment, and wanted to return that hat he had lent her. She took off the hat, and as she attempted to climb up the rubble to give it to him, it flew out of her hand, and away into the wind. If it wasn’t for one of his friends, carrying a sword, the hat probably would have been lost forever. It was a straw hat, she remembered, She couldn’t even see his eyes, as his sunglasses covered most of his face.  They didn’t have to be that bulky, she had thought at the time. But if this guy who saved her at the ice cream shop yesterday, was the same guy that saved her from Arlong, and he was a vigilante, or even bigger, a Monkey D, then that would make sense on why he hid his identity.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami crawled out of her bed, and decided she would make those cookies, so they tasted at least a little stale, if Luffy came back tonight. It didn’t take her long to zest the oranges, and juice them, in preparation for the cookies. After the cookies were baked, and cooled, she put them in a plastic container, and closed the lid, trapping as much air as possible in it, so that it would taste a little old. She cleaned up her mess, and collapsed onto her loveseat. It wasn’t long before sleep took over her tired body. When she awoke, the evening sun was already shining through her windows, and she yawned, knowing that she needed to make a few maps, before tomorrow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made herself comfortable in her drawing room, and started working on her maps. Something she enjoyed more since she was freed two years ago. She had already finished two maps, and was about to send them to another one of the companies she was contracted with, when she heard her doorbell ring.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Curious on who would come by this late in the day, as the sun had already set, she made her way downstairs and to her front door. She opened the door and was surprised to see a panting Luffy. He looked extremely exhausted, and he had a bandage wrapped over one of his shoulders, and another on his forearm. If he was trying to hide it, you couldn’t tell, because he was wearing another one of his tank tops. Nami leaned against the doorframe, waiting for him to look up at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Nami,” he smiled, though she could tell he was exhausted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did you run the whole way here?” Nami asked, “What happened to you, anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, this?” Luffy asked, suddenly regaining strength, and pointing to his shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And this one.” Nami replied, pointing to his forearm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked down at it, “Oh, it’s no big deal, honestly.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It is stained with blood, Luffy,” Nami replied, concerned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess,” he shrugged, “doesn’t hurt though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But what happened? How’d you get it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked away, and puckered his lips, beads of sweat newly forming on his forehead, “I don’t know.” he tried to whistle, but it just sounded like he was blowing air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, you’re a terrible liar,” Nami sighed, “why are you here anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You said the cookies were gonna go bad, did you forget?” he stated, as if it was obvious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you seriously want cookies, that badly?” Nami asked, crossing her arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“‘You shouldn’t waste food’” Luffy quoted, “that’s what Sanji told me, so yes, I’m here for the cookies.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sounds like Sanji,” Nami sighed, “Come on in, they’re in the kitchen.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know Sanji?” Luffy asked, following her inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, we’ve been friends for two years now.” Nami said, as she reached the kitchen, and waited for Luffy to join her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow! That’s much longer than I’ve known him. I think I’ve only known him for…” he thought to himself, and put his finger to his forehead. Nami could have sworn his face went red, “a month.” he finished.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t think much, do you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it’s boring, why should I?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulled out the cookies, and placed them in front of him, as he sat at the island counter, “Luffy, can I ask you a question.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy opened the container, and grabbed one of the cookies, “yeah, what is it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you know about the vigilante groups?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Vigi-what?” Luffy looked up at her, half a cookie in his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The vigilante groups. I ran into one yesterday,” she sighed, he seemed clueless, “I guess you don’t know about them then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are they bad people?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not exactly, at least the one that showed up at the ice cream store yesterday seemed more like they were doing a good deed than anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ice cream?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gosh, is there anything but food on your mind?” Nami asked, earning a laugh in return. “Robin said she thought they were a vigilante group, and the ‘captain’ so he was called had saved her in the purposeful wreck she was in. She even said there was a rumor about the captain being the missing Monkey D. grandson.” Nami slouched over the counter, not even looking at Luffy, who had suddenly stopped eating the cookies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They seem like good guys.” he said, earning Nami to look at his sweating face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, are you okay?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Luffy lied, Nami could tell, “why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re sweating, it isn’t even hot in here, do you have a fever?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Luffy responded, “What’s that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sick, Luffy, are you sick?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I’ve never been sick.” He grabbed another cookie and stuffed it in his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, anyway, what do you think about these vigilante guys?” Nami asked, “There was one guy, Black Leg, I think he was called, who reminded me a lot of Sanji.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you think about them?” Luffy asked, “You’re asking me way too difficult questions.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me, oh, well, I don’t know. I’m not a huge fan of vigilantes because my ex claimed to be one, but he was more of a terrorist, if anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ex?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, my ex-boyfriend, he was a real jerk. Abusive, too. There was this kid that saved me from his awful reign over my life two years ago. Never got the kid’s name, but I think he looked a whole lot like the guy that was called Straw Hat, or something, in district one.” Nami sighed, “I don’t want to talk about it, it’s a long story.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If it’s a long story, I don’t really want to hear it.” Luffy replied, and leaned back into the chair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That isn’t very nice, Luffy.” Nami snapped, “What if it was extremely important!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, you’re free from the ‘jerk’ now, right?” he said, bringing his straw hat over to cover his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s eyes widened, because of the recent memories, that straw hat looked awfully familiar to her. She leaned over the counter, not caring if her shirt got cookie crumbs stuck to it. She grabbed the hat off his face, so she could look at it more closely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” He said, jumping to a sitting position, “that’s my treasure!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your treasure?” she asked, holding the hat in her hands, before flipping it over, as if to inspect the inside. “Is gold woven in with the straw?” she asked, though she thought for sure she had heard that kid who saved her say the same thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” he replied, leaning over the counter to take it back from her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then what is it, some sort of old treasure map?” she asked inspecting it, wanting to put it on her head, to see if she felt the same familiarity with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” he said, starting to get a little angry, as he went around the counter, so he could get it back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulled it behind her as he had gotten closer, “I just want to know why this ‘treasure’ of yours is so important.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Give it back, Nami,” he said, so seriously, he almost sounded like the captain from the ice cream shop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami held out the straw hat, “Can I put it on first?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it’s mine,” he replied, gripping his fingers along the rim.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami let go, letting him have the hat, she was slightly disappointed, “So why is that your treasure, anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Someone important gave it to me, so it holds an important promise,” he replied, putting it on his head, it felt right with it on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What was the promise?” Nami asked, leaning an elbow against the counter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I promise him that I’d become-” he stopped, and looked away, toward her back door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What, is that another thing you can’t tell me? Like your job?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, be quiet,” he said, and walked backwards slowly to her kitchen light. He turned it off, leaving them in pitch black.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, what are you doing? Is it that big of a secret?” She asked, not quite understanding what he was getting at.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami,” he said, seriously, “be quiet, and don’t move.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked at him confused for a moment, then she saw him looking at her back door. He hadn’t kept his eyes off it for a while now. Nami was slightly nervous now, she ducked behind her counter, and waited for Luffy to do whatever it was he was going to do, although she did peek out, as he made his way to the backdoor, slowly, like he was some sort of spy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly, a figure appeared in the glass of the door, scaring Nami for a moment, before Luffy turned on the lights in the room her backdoor was in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gosh, Sanji, what’d you do that for?” Luffy said, making Nami stand up, and turn on her kitchen lights.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, what are you doing here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I live next door, she had some cookies that were going bad,” Luffy answered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami made her way into her backroom, “Sanji-kun? You almost gave me a heart attack.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Nami-swan! I deeply apologize!” he said, swooning over to her. Nami noticed he had a bandage around his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun! What happened to your head?” Nami exclaimed, ignoring his swooning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What, this?” he held his head lightly, “it’s nothing for you to worry about, Nami-san.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Both of you, first Luffy, now you? What the heck is wrong? Why are you both wearing bandages? And for the looks of it, they’re rather pretty fresh.” Nami stated, upset.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m fine, Nami-san, and this idiot over here is as well.” Sanji replied, “Got into a little fight about food, right, Luffy?” he said, and looked over at the black haired young adult.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, you wouldn’t let me have another piece of steak!” Luffy exclaimed, stomping over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami gave Luffy a once over, the blood seemed to have gotten worse on his bandage over his shoulder. She wondered if her playing with his hat, and him doing sudden movements made his wound re-open. “That doesn’t really seem like it’s from a fight over food,” she stated, grabbing Luffy’s arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, I wish Nami-swan would care for me like that!” Sanji exclaimed, overly dramatic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun, you have a girlfriend, does Pudding know?” Nami said, looking over at the spinning blond headed idiot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Know about what?” Sanji asked, stopping his spinning for a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“About the injury to your head, I bet she’s worried sick!” Nami replied, slightly annoyed with how overly affectionate he’s always being.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah! I had come over here to make sure you were okay, I had completely forgotten about Pudding-san!” he said, suddenly the realization of his girlfriend hit him, “I better get going!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Make sure I was okay?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I heard from Robin-chan that you two were victims of a terrorist attack, when I visited her this morning, and I had to make sure that you were okay!” Sanji said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but some strange vigilante like guys came and saved everyone.” Nami replied, “So I’m fine, the ‘Black Leg’ guy had made sure everyone got out all right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see,” Sanji said, “All right then, I’m off to make sure Pudding-swan is all right! Good seeing you this lovely evening, Nami-san!” He then gallantly made his exit through Nami’s french doors.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami?” Luffy said beside her, Nami looked over at him, “Can you stop holding my arm like that, it hurts.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked at her hands, she had lifted his arm up to examine it, and the blood had soaked more of the bandage. She dropped his arm, and it flopped down to his side. Instinctively, he reached up and grabbed his shoulder, as if to soothe the pain. “Sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anyway, I have to get going,” Luffy replied, placing the arm whose bandage was around the forearm onto his hat, “The cookies were great Nami!” he said, turning to make his way out of the house.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy.” Nami angrily said, stopping him in his tracks, “come with me, for a second.” she said, pointing in the direction of her ground floor bathroom. Luffy gulped.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I know, you guys are diappointed I didn't give you a whole lot of a cliff hanger this chapter, but instead I gave you more history about the au I created. A real bummer. I know, you guys were expecting someone other than the blond cook to show up, and that Nami would find out more information about Luffy...<br/>But that's just how I like to write! Enjoy my roller coaster of a story that you're walking through along with our orange haired navigator!</p><p>I promise there will be better cliff-hangers in the future. ;)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Bonds</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami had him take off his shirt since the bandage was partly under its fabric. She held out his arm, gently, and softly removed the blood-stained bandage. Having a new roll of a similar bandage fabric and tape ready. She gasped, as she reached the gash in his shoulder, though most of it was on his shoulder blade. Luffy looked away, regretting not wearing a sleeved shirt. The sleeves rubbed against the bandage, and it irritated him, but seeing her shocked and worried expression, somehow irritated him even more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They aren’t that bad, I’ve had worse,” he said, still not looking at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami had only to glance at the scar on his torso to agree, “Yes, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take care of this one, What if it scars!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And?” Luffy said turning his head to face her, the scar under his eye becoming more noticeable by the minute, “So it scars, a scar isn’t gonna hurt me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you do something stupid?” Nami asked, frustrated at his laid back attitude.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I didn’t.” Luffy replied, “though Zoro thinks it was.” he thought aloud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, what did you do?” Nami asked, as she grabbed some hydrogen peroxide to clean out the cut.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-” he stopped, and sucked in his lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami hadn’t been looking at his face, “well?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know…” he said, and she heard him trying to whistle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You really are an honest guy, aren’t you?” Nami said, as she held a damp, soft, washcloth. She began to dap around on his arm, cleaning up the blood around the gash. Once the blood was gone, she could clearly see the cut. It looked like it had been neatly stitched together. She had to admit, the bandage wrapping looked professional as well. But now the strings that held the tissues of skin together were snapped, and the wound was now open. She sighed, and gently tapped a hydrogen peroxide soaked gauze to the wound.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah!” Luffy exclaimed, bringing his arm away from her, and nearly falling backwards into the bathtub, “What is that? It hurts!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m cleaning the wound, Luffy.” Nami replied, irritated by his reaction, “Did you do this with the doctor that patched you up, as well?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, Chopper is a lot more gentle about it,” Luffy pouted, returning his arm to its previous position, so she could apply the peroxide.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After she had cleaned it, she sighed, “I don’t have any medical string, but I do know how to stitch a wound, wait here,” she said, and got up, “I’m gonna get my sewing kit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine.” Luffy pouted, as she left him alone in her bathroom. It wasn’t long after she left, he heard her footsteps above him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was desperately looking for her sewing kit, her rush made it more difficult to find. She had thought she put it in the cartography room, but she actually had it in her bedroom. After she found the kit, realization dawned on her, that Luffy and her were the only people in her large house. He was currently in her bathroom below her, and weakened, due to the wounds on his arms. She shuttered, before the thought could cross her mind, she was just going to take care of his wounds, and then he’d leave. She heard a loud thud, before she reached the stairs. What was that?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy?” She asked lightly hurrying down the stairs, “are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She entered the bathroom, and found him lying backwards, with his head in the bathtub, he was still ‘sitting’ on the edge of the tub, but he was now partly in the bathtub, sleeping. She sighed, annoyed, because she couldn’t stitch him up if she couldn’t see the wound or reach it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, are you alright?” She asked, and gently shook him. He didn’t wake up. “Luffy!” she yelled, his eyes fluttered open, and he stared absently at the ceiling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to sleep.” he muttered, before Nami pulled on his less injured arm, sitting him up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can sleep after I stitch and bandage you up.” she said, threading her needle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” he yawned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you so tired, anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I came straight back here, for the cookies, remember?” he said, drowsily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His head began to nod off when she was less than halfway done with the cut, she bonked him on the head so that he’d stay awake. He yawned as he opened his eyes, muttering that he was tired, and wanted to sleep. His hat still lay in the tub, and Nami kept eyeing it a few times, trying to see if it was the one that she remembered wearing for a short period of time, though it meant so much to her. When she finally finished, and he had nodded off three more times, she grabbed the bandages, to wrap him up with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do I need those, Nami?” he asked, drowsy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, idiot.” she replied, as she placed it against his back, below his shoulder blade, as she tried her hardest not to think of the fact that she was touching his toned, soft, body. It took her a little longer than it should have because of that fact, since Luffy nodding off had barely any effect in this matter. After she finished, and hadn’t realized the boy was sleeping, she let go of him, and he fell. Though instead of falling backwards into the bathtub, he fell forwards, on top of her. She blushed slightly, and then noticed his abandoned hat again, as it rested in the base of the bathtub. She knew she shouldn’t ‘borrow’ it, but she couldn’t help it. She just wanted to tell if it was the same one. However, he was on top of her at the moment, and that proved as a hindrance in getting his precious treasure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami held onto the sleeping manchild, and stood up with struggle. She dragged him outside of the bathroom, surprised he hadn’t woken up, and rested him onto the nearest couch. She was slightly uncomfortable having a man in her house, but she made her way back to the bathroom, and lightly picked up the hat out of the bathtub. She looked at the rim of the hat, and made her way to look into the mirror, she glanced at the hat, and then at herself a few times. She hesitantly held the hat over her head, not knowing if she should do this for sure or not. Carefully, and slowly, she brought the hat down onto her head. She was still a little disappointed, it felt more like any other hat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sighed, and pulled the hat off her head, making sure that none of her hairs had gotten stuck in the straw. She looked down at the hat, and back at herself. If this was the same hat she had worn two years ago, then maybe it would have to be given to her from the boy of two years ago. She sighed, there was a possibility it was Luffy, but the guy at the ice cream shop reminded her so much of him… unless. She looked up at herself in the mirror with wide eyes. She dashed out of the bathroom, to try and find a sleek black pair of sunglasses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On not finding the sunglasses she wanted, she settled for her orange frame ones, and made her way down the stairs, the hat in one hand, and the sunglasses in the other. She tiptoed over to the sleeping person on her couch, carefully holding the sunglasses, and the hat. She was going to figure out his secret, what his job was. Before she put the glasses on him, she thought about that rumor, that faint one, that may or may not be true. The captain being a member of the Monkey D family. One of the most dangerous and powerful families in the world. If that were true, then Luffy would be Monkey D. Luffy. It sounded like it would fit, she assumed. There was Monkey D. Garp, a four star general, who’d reached his rank, rather quickly, in all branches of the military, and now he was the mayor of Sabaody. Then there was a revolutionary, who was revealed to be Monkey D. Garp’s son, Monkey D. Dragon, back during that great war that took place at the marine headquarters, two years ago. Lastly, there was Dragon’s son, Garp’s grandson, who had gone missing after that war, some people even reported the boy dead. There were reports that General Aikanu had burned his chest, as he had been ‘escaping.’ By the help of a former ambassador Jinbei.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Burned. Nami thought to herself, and looked down, Luffy was still missing his shirt, and she could very clearly see the giant x-shaped burn scar across his breasts. Hesitantly, she just might be solving many mysteries, and the great one about Luffy, her neighbor, she brought herself down to her knees, holding the sunglasses in one hand. She hesitantly held them over his face. She had the straw hat in one hand, and the glasses were shaking in her other. If her hand keeps shaking, then she might end up poking him in the eye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He yawned, and she froze, he shifted his position, and curled into the couch. His face no longer readily available for her. She sighed, and grabbed at his shoulder, thankful that it wasn't the one that she just patched up, and tried pulling him back to face her, as gently as she could. She probably shouldn’t be doing this, she surmised, but she needed answers, and he was keeping them from her. Luckily, she was able to get his body back to laying flat on his back, though his face was still facing the other direction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami gently grabbed his cheeks and turned his head to face her, he had a gentle smile on his face, and she froze, not sure if she wanted to know the answers to his secrets anymore. But, then again, it would answer her questions about him, the ones she had sworn that she would know. However, she realized, if he was a vigilante, it wasn’t like they got paid to do it, so how did he get such a big flat? Such a nice car? Such nice furniture, even if there wasn’t much. How was it that he had enough money for all that meat in his fridge. She knew steak wasn’t cheap, especially the juicy steaks he had stored up in his fridge. He also seemed to have big ties to so many big named people, like Roronoa Zoro, Shakky, and even Raleigh, who had been quite a big deal in his prime, but no one even knows if he’s alive, though there have been no reports of him being dead.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami?” she heard, and she looked down, Luffy was staring at her, with tired eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes?” she answered, quickly, as if she hadn’t been trying to uncover his secrets. Besides, hadn’t one of his friends say that he’ll tell her if they become close enough friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why are you grabbing my face?” he asked, “Did I do something wrong?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami blushed, and let go of his cheeks, “No, I was just going to give you back your hat,” she said, and held up the hat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy sat up on the couch, “Thanks, Nami! Sorry if I fell asleep on you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it’s no big deal, Luffy.” Nami paused, as he grabbed the hat from her, and placed it with care back on his own head, “hey, Luffy,” she began.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hmm?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What was the promise you made with that hat?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I promised someone I’d become a great person, better than he was, or is…” he said, “He was awesome, really!” Luffy sighed, and looked up at the ceiling, “he gave me the hat to take care of until I fulfilled the promise, then I’ll give it back to him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you are a great person, Luffy,” Nami said, getting up from the floor and sitting beside him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” Luffy sighed, he rested his head against the back of the couch, “I’m not better than him, yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see.” Nami glanced at him, she was on the left side, the side with both the scar, and the bandage she wrapped up. “How’d you get that scar?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What scar?” Luffy asked, turning his head to look at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Both of them, honestly, but for now,” Nami replied, “the one on your face.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” he giggled, “proof of courage.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Proof of courage?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, it plays in with the hat, I guess, he shrugged his shoulders.” he got up from the couch, “Well, I really had better get going, do you know where my phone is?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you didn’t bring it in with you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” he said, and made his way to the front door, “Well, night, Nami!” he said, and opened the door, his hat fell off his head, and rested on his back, the string elegantly keeping it from falling off completely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good night, Luffy,” she replied, then as he disappeared into the night, she shook her head and sighed, there was no way Luffy was the boy who saved her, nor was he a Monkey. Garp’s grandson was reported dead, and had been missing for two years, there would be reports of seeing this ‘dead man walking’ by now. The boy who saved her didn’t have a giant x-shaped burn scar on his chest, for one, though she never really got a good look at him, and he didn’t really bog her down with questions. Deep down though, Nami wanted Luffy and that kid to be the same person. But if Luffy was that person, he would have told her, right? He had said he didn’t know her name when they first met, but the kid who saved her knew her name, Nojiko wouldn’t hide it from them. Then there was Nojiko, who had come once for a visit, soon after she met Luffy, she had left her two gold bangles in the spare room’s nightstand. She had seen Luffy running around, like a child, in his yard, with Usopp. He even had the straw hat strung to his back, there was no way Nojiko wouldn’t have recognized him, she was very perceptive, or he would have recognized her, at least. Nami might not have been close enough to meet him face to face, with the exception of him putting his hat on her, from behind, and her seeing his back as he walked in front of her, yelling that of course he’d save her, she did look a little different. She was not fully developed then, even though she was twenty, and her hair was shorter. Nojiko kept her hair the same length as it had been, liking hair that wouldn’t get in her way when she was dealing with the oranges. Luffy had looked over at them as they ate on the back porch and waved at them, he even ran up to greet them, with a huge smile evident on his face. He even introduced himself to Nojiko.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The next morning would have been the same as any other had Nami not gotten another text from his ex, the jerk, even if she never responded to them, nor read them, the notification itself had a tendency to darken her mood. After she ate breakfast, she made her way to the downstairs bathroom, to take a shower, there she found, resting on the floor, sloppily, Luffy’s tank top. There were faint blood stains against the fabric of the left shoulder. She decided she’d go ahead and wash it before giving it back to him. On top of all of her suspicions, it wouldn’t even make sense for the nice, childlike, idiotic man of a neighbor to be the badass captain she had seen at the ice cream shop in district one. Besides, when Sanji said that got in a fight about food, Luffy agreed, and the boy sucks at lying, so that would mean Luffy must be really passionate about food, in order to have such a gash in his shoulder. On top of that, he had gone to a doctor, if he were a vigilante, there would be no doubt they’d ask him about how he got such a wound, the boy couldn’t hide anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After the load was done, and folded it neatly, and put it in a black gift bag. She placed some of the leftover cookies, she was surprised he didn’t eat, in a goodie bag, and put it on top of the shirt. On her way over to his place, she was grateful to see his car parked in the driveway. However, she noticed someone else’s car in the driveway, and she recognized it as the other nice car that pervert drives. She approached the gate separating the two yards, and opened it. As she was crossing the yard, she watched the pervert walk out of Luffy’s house. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye Franky!” She heard Luffy exclaim, “Thanks for fixing that up for me, now I can have Merry again!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No problem, Luffy-bro, it was SUPER fun to build!” Franky, the pervert, said, striking a pose. The man seemed content, in any weather to walk around in an open shirt, and his speedos. On top of that, he was glad to be called a pervert, or perverted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard Luffy laugh, and say bye again, as the pervert got into his car. The car backed out of the driveway, carefully, and drove off. Nami watched it disappear around the bend before making her way onto Luffy’s porch. She knocked on the door, and a few seconds later, it was opened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, hey, Nami!” he greeted her. He was wearing a red cardigan, and denim shorts, he had a yellow sash, or belt of sorts on top of the shorts, though it was on top of the belt loops, so it wasn’t really holding anything up. The cardigan covered the bandaged shoulder perfectly, though the same couldn’t be said about his right forearm. He wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath, and left the cardigan open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami hadn’t seen him wear a shirt other than a t-shirt or tank top, so it slightly surprised her when he was just wearing a cardigan. “Hi Luffy, I brought you your shirt back,” she said, holding up the black gift bag.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My shirt?” he asked, as he took the bag.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, you kind of left it at my place last night,” Nami shrugged. “It was stained with some blood from your wound, so I washed it for you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks Nami! I didn’t even know it was gone!” He laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re welcome,” she replied, “by the way, who was that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who? Franky?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, yeah,” Nami replied, only remembering calling him a pervert, as she refused to associate with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s Franky, he’s the one that built the Sunny!” Luffy smiled, “And!” He was extremely happy now, “Come with me!” he grabbed her wrist and pulled her through the house to the door to the garage, “this is so awesome!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Slow down, Luffy!” she replied, trying to stay in step with him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy stopped at the door, “He made Merry!” he exclaimed, and opened the door, and turned on the light.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merry? You mean your old car?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but look!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked at what he was so excited about. There, in the middle of his garage, among the boxes that were still packed up, was a motorcycle with a metal sheep’s head engraved into the front. It was a really nice motorcycle, Nami had to admit. It was pretty, too, even if it had yellow on the sides, and white handles, it was a really pretty creation. “Wow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right!” Luffy said, and jumped to the floor, skipping all the steps down, “It’s Mini Merry!” he cheered. “Now it’s like I have her again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s beautiful, really,” Nami replied, walking down the stairs next to him, “Does Usopp know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I had just gotten off the phone with him, before you knocked on the door.” Luffy replied, “Do you know how to ride it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Nami asked, glancing from the motorcycle to Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you know how to ride Mini Merry?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course I know how to ride a motorcycle, I have one.” Nami replied, offended.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Luffy grabbed her hands, “That’s awesome! Can you take me for a ride?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can’t ride it?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I can, but Franky said that ‘it was best if someone who had the license to ride this super bike’ were to ride it.” Luffy pouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, so you don’t have your motorcycle license.” Nami reasoned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, that.” Luffy replied, and gripped her hands tighter, “Please can you take me for a ride!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami glanced at the bike, and noticed it was a two seater, “Yes, I can, but you have to wear a helmet!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I got one!” Luffy said, letting go of her hands and pulling out a red helmet from one of the boxes that were opened beside the stairs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, let me run back to my house and get mine, then.” Nami replied, feeling slightly nervous, before she made her way out of his house, hearing ‘yippee!’ and ‘yahoo!’ the whole way.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>The real suspense hasn't even been added in yet...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Clues</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami sat in the front seat of the bike, one foot on the concrete of the garage, and the other resting on the motorcycle, Luffy had already given her the keys, and he was currently trying to remember the code on the garage door. She felt as comfortable on this bike as she did on her own. It was strange, she had never even gotten on the bike before, and she already felt attached to it. The little lamb head etched into the front was adorable, it had yellow on the trunk basket, with white rimming the wheels. It looked like it ran on steam instead of gas, as it had a small chimney in the back to release the access steam. She slightly wondered how this engineer was able to do that, but dismissed it. It looked like a regular bike, despite this. The basket was lined in red fabric on the inside. Luffy had already stashed a huge black bento box in the compartment. Surprisingly, it was quite large, though it didn’t seem to take away from the slick design of the motorcycle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shouldn’t have been all that surprised, though, she sighed, Luffy’s car looked slick, and narrow, but on the inside it was actually quite spacious, though still having some narrow compartments to it, she could vouch for that, unfortunately. If Franky, the pervert she realized, could actually build something as intricate as that, he could be going against the head engineer for the military, Dr. Vegapunk, though he seems to be more of a myth, like the Garp’s grandson being alive, than actually building the artillery for them. She watched the garage door open, and Luffy come in, his helmet poorly resting on his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fix your helmet, Luffy,” she said, as she watched him climb on behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” he asked, “I put it on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you strap it on though?” Nami asked, and grabbed the straps underneath the helmet and tightened it under his chin. He actually had a pretty defined jawline, she noticed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her helmet was already secured safely on her head, and Luffy had the remote to the garage, an app on his phone, in one hand, so when she pulled out of the garage, he could close it. Once they were on the road, Luffy pushed his phone in his pocket, so he wouldn’t lose it, and wrapped one arm around Nami’s waist. Nami had a slight blush on her cheeks, as she felt the bandaged forearm hold unto her. Even through her shirt and the medical, white fabric on his arm, she could feel his muscles flex as she sped up the bike, which was more smooth than her own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was having a great time, but his other arm, the one she had to re-bandage wasn’t the one wrapped around her, and it concerned her. He was yelling about how fun it was, and she was concerned that he was stretching the muscle a little too much in his shoulder, so she pulled into the nearest lot, which happened to be the shooting range, since they had gone quite the distance already.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ooh!” Luffy exclaimed hopping off the bike, after she put down the kickstand, “Good idea, Nami! We should go show Usopp!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, Luffy!” Nami replied, grabbing the nearest arm to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy felt the pull in his left arm, and stopped walking, wincing at the pain, “Nami, let go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m barely even pulling your arm, Luffy,” She replied, “Just wait a minute.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took off her helmet, and helped Luffy take off his, then, she grabbed the color of his red cardigan, and pulled it down off his left shoulder. He looked away from her, whistling. Now he knew how to whistle, it seemed, “Luffy.” She glared at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami,” he tried glaring back, but he thought that was too funny, and broke out into laughter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This isn’t funny, Luffy, I spent a whole bunch of time last night, with you falling asleep, trying to stitch this up!” she sighed, pulling the cardigan back over his shoulder, “what would your doctor say if they knew that you snapped your stitches? Again?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’d get mad at me, then re-stitch them.” Luffy replied, and shrugged, “Chopper’s nice!” he smiled, “Okay! Let’s go in and tell Usopp!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe your Dr. Chopper is nice, but that doesn’t mean you get to give him more work!” Nami exclaimed. “Give me your phone, Luffy, I’m calling your doctor.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Luffy replied, backing up slightly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m calling your Dr. Chopper, and telling him you snapped your stitches again!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You won’t do that, Nami!” Luffy whined.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Give me your phone, Luffy!” Nami exclaimed, pushing out her hand, waiting for the phone to be placed in it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine.” He replied, reluctantly, like a child to their mother, and pulled his phone out of his pocket to place in her hand, “But don’t tell him it was my fault!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked at the phone, but then turned it to face him so the face recognition would work. It was still on the garage door app, and she pressed the home button, to get to his contacts. His home screen was a picture of him, Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji, in black tuxedos. Zoro and Sanji were glaring at each other on the opposite sides of the two cheerful people in the photo, Usopp and Luffy. “That’s a cute picture,” she accidently said aloud as she pressed on the contacts application.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s a cute picture?” Luffy asked, as he looked at his phone screen, beside her. “Nami, that’s not a picture.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, your homescreen, idiot!” Nami replied, pulling his ear slightly, before typing ‘Dr. Chopper’ in his contact list. Nothing showed up though. “Do you not have your doctor’s contact?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What! Was Chopper’s contact deleted?” Luffy asked and grabbed the phone from her. He went to his list of contacts, and found Chopper’s, “No, it’s still here, silly Nami!” he laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well I didn’t find it!” Nami replied, before taking the phone, she noticed there was no prefix ‘Dr.’ to the contact, and sighed, of course he wouldn’t. She pressed the call button, and brought the phone to her ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A childlike voice answered on the other side, “Hi, Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, hi,” Nami answered, “is this Luffy’s doctor, Dr. Chopper?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” there was a pause, “Calling me doctor doesn’t make me happy, you idiot!” she heard an extremely happy voice say on the other side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“O...kay” Nami replied, hesitantly, “I was calling to inform you that Luffy had snapped his stitches, again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Again!” the childlike voice replied, upset. “Luffy! I told you not to do that! That doesn’t help you at all!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami handed the phone over to Luffy, “He wants to talk to you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi Chopper, what’s up!” Luffy cheerfully said into the phone. There was a pause, and Luffy’s face paled, “Ah, but that was because Nami took my hat! Don’t worry, she fixed it.” there was another long pause, and Luffy sighed, “but Franky made Mini Merry, and I just had to ride it, so Nami drove it for me, and it was so much fun!” There was another pause, “No, Chopper, it’s okay, they’re restricting anyway.” Luffy nodded, “yeah, yeah,” he waited another long pause, “Kay, well, I’ll see you tomorrow then? And we can go to that amusement park?” Luffy jumped in the air, excited, “Alright, bye, Chopper!” The call ended, and Luffy put his phone back in his pocket. “Alright, let’s go get Usopp!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did your doctor say?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He said I have to come by tomorrow.” Luffy responded, and ran into the shooting range.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Usopp had deeply enjoyed seeing the Merry, even if it was the Mini Merry, now. He even cried, much to Nami’s surprise. Luffy and Usopp were hugging each other, both crying at how beautiful the little lamb looked. Usopp must have not really cared about the re-opened wound on Luffy’s arm. The two of them then started leaping for joy on Luffy saying that Nami would take them for a ride, forgetting it was a two-seater. Nami nearly punched both of their heads, because she didn’t want to try to drive with two more people on it. The drag was slow enough with one extra person, she reasoned, though it was really just an excuse. She also had noticed that he had a bandage on his nose, but figured he might have gotten in Luffy’s crossfire with Sanji about food. She knew how much Sanji loved to cook, so she decided to bring it up, “Usopp, what was Luffy and Sanji’s argument about, anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Their argument?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, the one that gave Luffy these wounds,” she pulled up Luffy’s forearm, as an example.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, that one!” Usopp replied, “They have arguments all the time about food, mainly because Sanji won’t give Luffy meat all the time.” he shrugged.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy pulled his arm out of Nami’s grasp, “But that’s because he never gives me enough!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, you just eat way too much!” Usopp replied, “we almost didn’t have enough for the rest of us!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Zoro eats a lot, too,” Luffy pouted, “And I eat until I’m satisfied, that isn’t eating too much!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re like a bottomless pit! You had eight steaks, and ten ribs!” Usopp groaned, “Of course Sanji is going to cut you off, I only had one. Zoro wanted another one, but you had taken the last one on the plate! You can’t eat that many steaks, Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy frowned, “but he didn’t have to kick me for it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Gosh, Luffy, you’re such a child.” Usopp replied, rubbing his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am not!” Luffy exclaimed. “I proved to Shanks I wasn’t a child, Usopp,” Luffy replied, pointing to the scar on his face, “and now I’m gonna become a great man!” he said, planning on grabbing his hat, but forgot that he had left it in the garage when he put on the helmet. “Ah! My hat!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s in your garage,” Nami replied, patting his non-injured shoulder, “Did you say Shanks?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked over at her, sucking in his lips. As if signifying that he hadn’t said anything, but it was more like showing he did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was this ‘Shanks’ the one who gave you the hat?” Nami asked, earning a nodd, even though he kept his lips in tight concealment by his teeth. “I should look into him, I wonder if Robin knows anything about him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The following day, she watched out her window as Luffy got into his car, she assumed to go meet with his doctor, and drive off, overly fast as usual. She sighed, she didn’t know why, but she suddenly had a great interest in this ‘Shanks’ person. She pulled out her phone and dialed Robin, “Hey, Robin, I was wondering if you knew anything about Shanks?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Red-haired Shanks?” Robin asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, I guess,” Nami replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why the sudden interest?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy mentioned Shanks, and I guess I got curious.” Nami admitted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, well, I-” she stopped, “I don’t know much about him, barely anyone does. I do know however that he is a great man, and looked up to around the globe, though he generates fear in the World Government, even if they still respect him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, okay,” Nami replied, then she decided to ask Robin another question, “Wait, Robin, I know you're busy, but what do you know about the missing Monkey D. boy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Monkey D?” Robin confirmed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, like what’s his full name, what does he look like, if he is alive, or dead, you know, anything about him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Unfortunately, all of that information is under restriction,” Robin replied, “I do know that he went missing directly after the War of the Best, at the marine capital, Marineford.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, but everyone knows that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you know why he was there though?” Robin asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, no.” Nami admitted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know what started the whole war, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, Portgas D. Ace, Gol D. Roger’s son was captured, and to be killed, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, and Edward Newgate, under the vigilante name: Whitebeard, had gone in to save him, claiming him as his adoptive son. Well, someone else went in to save Ace as well.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me guess, the Monkey D. boy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, apparently, soon after the president at the time, Sengoku had announced that Ace was Roger’s son, and the Monkey boy had been suddenly present, he also revealed that that boy was both Garp’s grandson, and the revolutionary, Dragon’s son as well. Well, Dragon’s son announced to everyone that he was sworn brothers with Ace, the one to be killed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Nami was surprised, “but wouldn’t that mean he failed in rescuing him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, it did. We actually don’t know all the specifics, but we know that that happened, and here we are now, completely oblivious to wherever this monkey kid is, let alone his given name.” Robin sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, you don’t know anything more than the public about it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope, that’s one of the things I’d like to uncover.” Robin admitted, do you have any more questions, I have to get back to my work soon.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, not right now.” Nami sighed. “Bye, Robin, talk to you later!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What happened? Nami wondered. This kid was obviously a big deal, so why was all the information about him suddenly shut off from the public when he suddenly went missing. As a matter of fact, the public seemed to have forgotten about him so much that they don’t even know his first name. Nami was becoming more and more intrigued by the second. The Monkey D. family was a big deal, one trying to fix the government, one working for it, and then the third generation kid was completely out of the picture, and nowhere to be found.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s phone rang, and she picked it up, “Hi, Vivi, how’ve you been?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m great, Nami!” Vivi responded, “I heard that there was a terrorist attack in your city, what happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing major, it was all taken care of by a supposed vigilante group,” Nami responded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s good news, you weren’t a victim of it were you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I wasn’t,” Nami lied, “everything going alright with you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, actually, things are going wonderfully, I’ll be going back to my home country soon, Arabasta, this Alabasta city reminds me of home way too much, Nami.” Vivi responded, with a sigh, “I want to go back home, to my father now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I get that, I hope my mother’s alright, I haven’t heard much from Nojiko about her condition.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really, oh, I’m sorry,” Vivi said, worriedly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” there was a short silence.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” Vivi said, sharply, “let’s change the subject, tell me about that neighbor of yours, Luffy, was it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, he’s way too caring, and an idiot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But you already told me that,” Vivi sighed, “Have you too gone out, on like, you know, dates?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami tried holding in a blush, but failed, “No, Vivi, we’re not like that, honest.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, okay,” Vivi replied, obviously not believing her.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>What do you think about the chapter??? I'd love to hear your thoughts, so that I can improve!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Government</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>She had thought that the incident was the only thing revolving around Robin, but she was deeply misunderstanding. It wasn't long after that she had noticed Robin wasn't home. She had decided to go ahead and visit her friend but was soon witnessing the vacancy of the apartment, although Robin's car was still in her parking spot. Nami had a spare pair of keys to the woman's apartment, practically begging her before they had parted ways after the ice cream incident. Everything was in place in the apartment with the exception of the knocked over chair at the table, and the slight spray of dried blood, barely visible on the dark carpet. Heck, there was still a book open on the table. Panicking, she called Robin to make sure everything was fine, but was met with a voicemail.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything wasn't fine, it was obvious, and this was just beginning to go downhill. Sure there were a few incidents that happened in Sabaody, it was high in crime, after all, but nothing around the people that were close to her for the past two years. Sure her neighbor on the opposite of the house that Luffy was in had some trouble when she had first moved in, but that was two years ago. Besides, Robin never failed to pick up her phone, even if it was just to say, 'sorry, I'm busy.' She called again, and it went straight to voicemail, it must have died. She went to her contacts to see if there was anyone else that cared enough about Robin that she could call. She called Sanji, and his phone went to voicemail as well. That was it, there was something terribly wrong. Sanji never misses a call from a girl. Nami looked through and called Luffy, since he had accompanied her to Robin's before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Come on, someone, pick up!" Nami whispered to herself, as she heard the phone ringing. "Luffy…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It went to voicemail, although he hadn't set it up yet, so she wasn't even sure she could leave a message. Vivi was out of town, but she could at least call her, right? Nami went to her recents and found Vivi's number. She called it, half expecting it to go to voicemail like her other three friends' today.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hi, Nami," Vivi answered, cheerful, even.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Vivi! Oh, I'm so glad you picked up!" Nami exclaimed, "Look, I know Robin's not your favorite person, but…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nami, what's wrong?" The sweet voice on the other side asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I went to Robin's apartment, and she's not here, and some of the organized layout she had is messed up, and there's blood on the carpet!" Nami panicked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nami, breathe!" Vivi stated, before Nami could dive deeper into her panic mode.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I am, I am."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Robin's probably fine, don't worry." Vivi replied. "I can go ahead and call the police for you, if you'd like."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, no thanks," Nami responded, while taking deep breaths, "I can manage that much."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, I'm sorry I couldn't be much help, but call me if you need anything." Vivi stated, before hanging up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Police, right, the police, they can do something about this." Nami said to herself, as her voice was shaking. She dialed 911 on her phone, and brought it to her ear, immediately grateful for their quick response. "My friend is missing!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay, calm down, miss. Who is your friend?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nico Robin, she's around thirty, and her apartments messed up, and there's blood on the ground!" Nami was explaining as she glanced around the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nico Robin, you said?" The voice on the other end reaffirmed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes! She's around thirty, and she's an archeologist, with black long hair, and blue eyes!" Nami stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yes, Ms. Nico." The other end repeated, and if Nami had been paying more attention she would have noticed the change in voice. "She's perfectly fine, ma'am."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Really? Are you sure?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Absolutely."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami hung up, and relaxed, "Thank goodness, I thought maybe the people that got her into that incident had taken her, or something."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a relief to know her friend was alright, even if she still had some suspicions. She decided to clean the mess up. She went to her friend's laundry area, and got a rag to soak up the blood, if she could do anything by this point. She picked up the chair, and pressed the wet rag into the carpet, baking soda nearby so that she could use it afterwards. She scrubbed against the dark bristles of carpet until she was certain she had gotten the blood out. It was already dark, and she hadn't eaten yet, so she decided to lock up the place, and head on home.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On the way back, she noticed Luffy's car pulling quickly out of an abandoned road that led to the old insane asylum. He sped up, turning onto another road, quickly. Curious, Nami decided to follow him. It wouldn’t take long, she decided, he’s an idiot, anyway. She turned down the same road he did, and saw his car not far away, pulled over. Nami hesitantly drove her car up, and pulled it over behind his. She put it in park, and got out. She walked over to the driver’s door and knocked on it. The tinted window was rolled down, to reveal a very exhausted Zoro.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey,” he breathed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, where’s Luffy?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Told me to drive.” Zoro responded, after looking back with his eyes to the back row of the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where are you going?” Nami questioned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“His house.” Zoro responded, as if it were obvious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy doesn’t live down this street.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can tell.” Zoro groaned, and looked ahead, “His damn house keeps changing places.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Nami agreed, sarcastically, before changing the subject, “Where are you coming from, anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Robin.” Zoro responded, before he began to roll up the window.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about Robin, Zoro?” Nami yelled, before he fully rolled the window up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Robin’s your friend, right?” Zoro asked, receiving a nod from the orange haired lady in return, “You trust her, right?” he asked, but while he was looking at Nami, it sounded like he was talking to someone else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I do.” came a feminine response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, fine.” Zoro grumbled, “I’m driving Robin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Robin’s with you!” Nami exclaimed, “Is she alright? Why are you taking her to Luffy’s house?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, to hers.” Zoro stated, rolling his one open eye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just came from her apartment, Zoro, you’re going the opposite direction.” Nami told him. “Why are you driving Robin, anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because Luffy can’t.” Zoro rolled his only open eye again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s the one thing I can’t tell you, Nami,” Robin stated, leaning over the driver's seat, so her hair laid over Zoro’s shoulder, and her hand gently rested against his upper arm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll take you to Robin’s place, Zoro, just follow me.” Nami rolled her eyes, and turned around to go back to her car. This guy got lost on the way to the apartment of who he’s driving. Robin would have told him, but then again, that dark haired woman was practically impossible to understand, sometimes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Robin opened her the door to her apartment, with Zoro and Nami behind her, the latter was happy to see the relieved, yet, thankful smile on her friend’s face, when she examined the room, and everything was clean and in its place. “I was worried they were going to take some of it.” Robin said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Take some of it? Why?” Nami asked, sitting herself on the couch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Zoro looked over at Robin, and they exchanged similar expressions, before he sat himself on the floor next to the armchair, while Robin sat in it. Zoro heaved a sigh, and looked up at Nami, “Robin’s smart.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Robin held in a giggle, but she decided to explain, “Nami, I’ve done a lot of studying, and digging to learn more.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And?” Nami questioned, “That doesn’t give whoever took you the right to take you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But it does, Nami.” Robin folded her arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And why is that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not like it’s a secret anymore, Robin. Besides, even if I don’t trust her, you and Luffy seem to.” Zoro shrugged, as Robin looked down at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The people who took me, Nami, were the government.” Robin finished explaining.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was shocked, though she shouldn’t have been as much as she was, Robin had been in that incident before, and that pervert guy, Luffy says is Franky, said something about it being the government vehicle, so she assumed that made sense. But for what? Because a very knowledgeable woman wants to expand her knowledge? “That’s ridiculous!” Nami exclaimed, rising from her seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not really,” Zoro mumbled, and Nami glared at him, daring him to continue. He didn’t seem fazed by her death glare, and continued in the same tone as he started, “It’s the world government, they do anything they feel like.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Robin looked down at him, a faint smile on her face, as she used one hand to ruffle his short hair, “You don’t need to bring your tragedies in this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My tragedies?” Zoro asked, grabbing her hand and looking up at her, “I don’t have tragedies, woman!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Robin giggled, and upon him releasing her wrist, she turned to face Nami, “Well, it was just a simple run of the jail, where everyone risked their lives, and came out nearly dead, if not already. Blood splattered everywhere in hopes of retrieving their missing parts.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami couldn’t believe how many times she had heard Robin’s dark fantasies, and how she could say them all with a complete straight face, “So nothing terrible happened, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, nothing too bad.” Zoro frowned, and rested his head against the armrest, closing his only open eye.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re totally fine, right, Robin?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely.” Robin replied, as she leaned against the armrest, propping her elbow up on it so she could rest her chin in her palm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami sighed, then turned her attention to the sleeping moss headed man, “So where is Luffy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man opened one eye and looked over to her, “Probably with Franky or Usopp.” he said, as he closed the non-injured eye again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I have to get going, you do know how to get to Luffy’s house, right Zoro?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah,” Zoro waved his hand, dismissing her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye, Robin, I’m glad you're okay!” Nami smiled as she left the door, failing to notice the woman turn to Zoro with a faint, yet pained smile, and he returned a comforting one to her.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Woah! A conclusion to that, maybe, probably... hopefully?</p><p>Please comment your thoughts!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Storm</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nami was taking a breather on her balcony from her maps, the wind was cool, but the air was a little warm, she glanced at the clouds and grimaced, this humid weather was the perfect type for storms, and tornados. She could see the beginning formings of a wall cloud, and frowned, it was going to storm, she was sure of it. She looked down into her orchard, and passed it. She could see vaguely into one of the side rooms of Luffy’s place, but it wasn’t much. She saw his car still parked in his driveway, and decided that she no longer wanted to be alone today. She went down to her kitchen, and grabbed a pitcher of orange juice she made, still thinking at this time in their friendship she needed a legitimate reason to go over to his home. She had only been there a few times, once when she first met him and twice after that, one of them was just to tell him his kite got stuck in one of her trees, and she wanted him to get it out. He had obliged, because he missed that kite, and wanted to fly it again. The look on his face when he got it out to when he noticed its tears, was enough to make you feel sorry for the kite.</p><p>Nami placed the pitcher carefully into one of her coolers, specifically made to keep large bottles cool, and made the trek over to her neighbor’s lawn. He didn’t come to her place as often as she’d wanted him to, and when he did, he rarely ever actually went inside, saying he preferred the outdoors. She believed him, as she remembered waking up in the middle of the night to see him sleeping in a sloppily put-together tent in his backyard. Nami raised her hand up to knock on his front door, when she heard his voice, “Nami?” She turned around, she was so intent on finding an excuse, she hadn’t realized he was working out underneath the large tree in his front yard.</p><p>“Geeze, Luffy, you scared me!” Nami stated, her cooler resting on the ground, and crossed her arms. She was trying her hardest not to blush. Luffy must have taken off his shirt somewhere along his workout, and now he was in a fresh coat of sweat, a towel was over his shoulders, and his hair was wet.</p><p>“Sorry.” he said, before taking off the towel, and tossing it onto the railing of his porch. He grabbed the hose out from its rack, and turned it on to spray himself.</p><p>“Well, it’s not like you expected me to come by,” Nami reasoned, as he turned off the water, and made his way back over to her.</p><p>“Yeah,” he said, as he grabbed his towel, “So do you wanna play a game or something?” he asked, rubbing the towel through his wet hair.</p><p>“Um, sure, what game?” Nami asked, sitting down on the steps of his porch.</p><p>Luffy pulled the towel back around his head, to rest on his shoulders, his hair pressed back since it was still wet, “Don’t know, you got any ideas?”</p><p>“No, I don’t,” Nami replied.</p><p>“How about ‘tag’?” Luffy smiled, and squatted.</p><p>“Thought you didn’t have any ideas?” Nami asked, smirking, “besides, don’t you need more people for that?”</p><p>“I guess,” Luffy sighed, before his eyes lit up, “I could call Usopp and Chopper!”</p><p>“Let’s not bother the doctor,” Nami smiled, “Is your wound healed?” she asked, she had noticed earlier that the bandages were gone, but it hadn’t registered.</p><p>“Yeah, Chopper’s just gonna have to take out the stitches when he gets back.” Luffy said, looking at his arm.</p><p>“You sure heal fast,” Nami pointed out, seeing as it had only been four days.</p><p>“That’s ‘cause I’m strong!” Luffy said, bringing up one arm, and flexing its muscles.</p><p>“I can see that.”</p><p>“So, just Usopp then?” Luffy asked, tilting his head.</p><p>Nami blinked, “Um, no,” she breathed, “I don’t want to play ‘tag,’ Luffy.”</p><p>“Oh, so what do you want to play?” He asked, getting up to sit next to her on the steps.</p><p>“I don’t really want to <em> play </em> anything, Luffy.”</p><p>“Oh,” he leaned back onto his elbows, and threw his head back, closing his eyes.</p><p>It was nice, Nami had to admit, even if she was now in silence with him, just his presence there was good enough. It reminded her of when Vivi lived here. Sometimes she would go on long trips, but when she was home, they didn’t always need to talk, they’d just sit together basking in each other’s presence. Nami leaned back onto her hands, and looked up, closing her eyes, this was really nice. After a little while, she felt a droplet of water hit her toe, and she sat up straight, she looked over to Luffy, who at first appeared to be sleeping, he hadn’t moved in a little while, and it wasn’t like him.</p><p>He sat up, quickly, causing his neighbor to jump back slightly, “Nami.”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“What’s in the cooler?”</p><p>“Just some orange juice.” Nami admitted, shyly. The rain started to downpour and the wind was blowing it to them, she sucked her legs into her chest, regretting not bringing an umbrella, even if she only lived next door.</p><p>“Ooh,” Luffy’s eyes nearly sparkled, and he stood up, the rain pelting him, “Can we have some?”</p><p>“Don’t you want to go inside first?” Nami asked, as his hair began to drip over his face, nearly covering his eyes.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“It’s raining.” Nami gestured to the rain that was now soaking him.</p><p>“Ah!” he jumped, and scampered underneath the shade of his front porch, “you’re right!”</p><p>“You mean you didn’t notice you just got yourself soaked?” Nami raised an eyebrow.</p><p>“What?” he looked down at himself, he was still shirtless, but his denim shorts were soaked the whole way through. Even the towel that he grabbed off the railing to dry them off, though that wouldn’t do anything if it wasn’t wet, was dripping with water now.</p><p>“Honestly,” Nami sighed, and stood up, “you can be such an idiot sometimes.”</p><p>Luffy looked up from trying to dry off his pants, “I’m soaked.” he whined.</p><p>“What, don’t like getting wet?” she asked, smirking.</p><p>“Not like this!” He said, before an idea came to him, “Let’s go play in the rain!”</p><p>“I thought you said you didn’t like getting wet like that?”</p><p>“Yeah, I did,” He nodded, “I don’t like the rain, but I like playing in it.” he confirmed, as if it made perfect sense, though it left Nami confused.</p><p>“Come on!” he said, and grabbed her hand, leading her into the rain.</p><p>“Put on a shirt first, you’re going to catch a cold!” Nami yelled, as her neighbor pulled her into the middle of the rain, and began kicking the grass, water spraying everywhere. He was laughing, and enjoying himself. Nami stood there, letting the rain hit her, as she watched him cheer about like a child on a snowy day. She kicked some water to him, and he yelped, before jumping away, and climbing up the tree like a monkey.</p><p>“Can’t reach me up here,” he giggled, as he hung upside-down from the branch, by his legs.</p><p>“But you can’t reach me, either,” Nami pointed out to him.</p><p>“What?” He questioned, before easing himself around to be hanging by one arm, hooked around the branch, much to Nami’s satisfaction it was his right arm. The process of him changing positions like that so easily, made the branch shake, and on top of the rain pelting down on her, though not as much through the branches, she now felt like a bucket was just dumped over her. How did the leaves hold that much water, she wondered.</p><p>“Ugh, Luffy!” She said, wiping her wet hair out of her face.</p><p>He giggled, then swung up onto the branch. He really was like a monkey, she nearly laughed, and that didn’t help his overly flexible nature, either. Maybe he was some really famous male contortionist, and he’s trying to keep himself hidden, so his agents have classified his information. Although, she had to admit, it wasn’t like that site was the first to pop up, but more like on the fourth page of results at the bottom, and there were only five pages. The information on each page got more scarce to the topic searched anyway, it was probably about someone else named Luffy, or about some secret agent, or agency that sounded or was spelled similar to Luffy’s name. So maybe a famous contortionist, who goes by a stage name like ‘monkey boy’ or something, and wears a face mask was who he was. She shrugged, as he leaped down from the tree, more of the water fell onto her.</p><p>“Are you not playing anymore?” he asked.</p><p>“No, I’m kind of chilly, it is autumn, and it’s raining.” She reasoned.</p><p>“Then let’s go inside and drink some of your orange juice!” Luffy said, dashing inside.</p><p>“I’m still wet!” Nami yelled back.</p><p>“So?” he replied, at the door, “I am, too!”</p><p>Nami ended up following him inside, running, because she didn’t want to get more wet than she already was, though it was probably pointless, and went inside with him. Not long after she dried her hair, and stole some of his clothes, as she had thrown hers in the dryer, the tornado watch notifications annoyed her phone, and she asked Luffy if they could go to the basement, to be safe.</p><p>“Basement?” Luffy tilted his head, “There’s a basement?”</p><p>“What?” Nami asked, “You’ve been living here for nearly a month, and you didn’t know there was a basement?”</p><p>“No, I didn’t.” Luffy replied, crossing his arms. Then he noticed what she was wearing, “how’d you get my clothes?”</p><p>Nami looked down at herself, she was wearing a black shirt with a blue shark printed across the majority of it. It was long enough to cover her underwear, which surprisingly wasn’t that wet, and she had just blown it out for a few minutes with the hair dryer she was surprised he had in his bathroom. She had known the house too well, and made her way up his stairs to his master bathroom so she could borrow some of Vivi’s clothes, after she dried her hair, forgetting for the moment that it wasn’t her friend’s place anymore. When she had opened up his walk-in closet, she realized her mistake, but grabbed one of his t-shirts anyway.</p><p>“My clothes were wet.” she replied, hoping he didn’t question how she got it, and that she was essentially snooping around his house.</p><p>He slammed his fist into his palm, “Makes sense.”</p><p>“We should go into your basement, before the tornado hits.” Nami sighed, and turned to make her way to the basement.</p><p>“But they said it was just a tornado watch.” Luffy replied, staring down at his phone screen.</p><p>It wasn’t long after he said that, the tornado warning sirens began to wail, and Nami pulled his arm to go to the basement. He wasn’t budging until he grabbed the cooler with the orange juice, and a few piles of meat from his fridge. She began the walk to his basement, in a hurry, mumbling about how he always thought about his stomach's satisfaction first. She reached the stairs, she stopped, a light was on down there, which meant someone was down there, right?</p><p>"Luffy, I thought you didn't know about your basement," Nami stated, turning to the twenty-one year old beside her.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Welp! I'm gonna be posting what their styles and what they look like on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lissyart101?fan_landing=true</p><p>So make sure to follow to get those updates when they come!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Locked</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>"Yeah, where is it?" Luffy nodded, while starting to eat his 'snack' as he called it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Then why?" Nami began, before beginning the descent down the stairs, she was thinking aloud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Nami, where are you going?" Luffy asked, as she tiptoed carefully down the staircase. There was a turn at the end, so she couldn't actually see the grounds of the basement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The basement, Luffy." Nami rolled her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, but that isn't a basement." Luffy replied, still standing at the top of the stairs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami turned to face him, "Yes it is, Luffy," she rolled her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I thought basements were supposed to be completely underground though." Luffy replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Not all of them," Nami replied, and faced the stairs again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, okay," Luffy replied happily, and walked passed her down the stairs, as if there was nothing that was worrying her, "Come on!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Luffy!" She began, but then realized he had just misunderstood what a basement was, so he had already known he had one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There were large french doors opening underneath the deck of the backdoors above, and it was nearly decorated with a whole load of work out equipment, it looked like a gym, almost.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wow!" Nami stared in wonder, he had changed Vivi's victorian-styled layout completely. And surprisingly, considering how less than outstanding layouts of his rooms were, Nami was completely astonished.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Luffy turned around, after he placed the cooler on the table in the corner, next to the kitchenette.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"This looks nothing like Vivi's." Nami said, with a great sigh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You know Vivi?" Luffy asked, jumping over the couch to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, she used to own this house, before you moved in. You know her too?" Nami asked, raising her eyebrows.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Of course I know Vivi!" Luffy replied, as if everyone should know who this girl is. "She's nice!" He smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So is she your friend, or something?" Nami asked, sitting down on the crescent couch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yep! I met her two years ago." He replied, plopping himself next to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Really?" She leaned forward, resting her head on her fist, her elbow on her knee. "How'd you meet her?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A whale." Luffy giggled, "she was trying to kill it, with some guy that had weird tattoos under his eyes."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A whale?" Nami asked, sitting up, "Vivi never told me she lived near the ocean."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"She didn't." Luffy smiled, "Zoro said she tried to kill us, too."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So how'd you become friends with her?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, well, there was this guy, who was…" he trailed off, as realization dawned on him. Nami could see it in his eyes, and immediately suspected he'd do his typical, 'i don't know' response that was completely transparent. He surprised her though, "ah, but I shouldn't tell you." He replied, then changed the conversation to point to her, "but how do you know Vivi?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Vivi's my best friend, she lives in Alabasta now, but I met her two years ago, we were both going through troubled times, and we kind of connected." Nami sighed, then smirked, she turned to face Luffy, and made his signature 'lying face.' "oh, but I don't remember."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What!" He exclaimed, "that's not fun!" He started shaking her shoulders, "that's not nice to Vivi!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami couldn't believe it, the idiot actually believed her. She guessed that made sense on why he thought people would believe him when he did it. She couldn't lie to him, he was way too gullible. "Actually, I do remember, it's just hard memories, that's all."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh," he replied, letting go of her shoulders, "then that's fine." He turned to face the french doors. But then his patience ran out, "Wanna watch a movie?" He asked, and jumped up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What if the electricity goes out?" Nami asked, looking over the couch to him as he was trying to unlock the closet doors behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Electro-what?" Luffy asked, finally getting the door unlocked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Electricity, you know the power?" Nami pointed to the lights that were flickering above them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, that's okay, Franky made it have its own power system!" Luffy swung the doors open, and walked inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Much to Nami's surprise, it wasn't a closet that he was unlocking, although it had been a closet when Vivi had lived there. She walked into the 'closet' and pushed through the black curtains. She was in a dimly lit room, with two rows of five recliners. The ground descended ever so slightly as it reached deeper into the ground. A giant flat screen TV, of which she hadn't even seen in the market before, was hanging on the furthest wall from her, covering nearly the whole thing. To put it in simplest terms, Luffy had a mini movie theater in his basement. The basement that she had known to be Vivi's.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How?" Nami began, but made her way to the lowest point in front of the TV, as she watched Luffy shuffle through a hoard of different DVD's. Most of them were action, while there were a few that were documentaries, one of them was on karate, and then there were a couple on gun safety. Nothing romantic, with the exception of one, but Luffy tossed that aside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What's wrong with this one?" Nami asked, picking it up, and examining it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sanji said I'd like it, but I don't. It's all about marriage and stuff." He sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah," Nami nodded, noticing it was the television show 'The Bachelor.' "Sounds like Sanji." She knelt down beside him, and picked up one on history, "how about this one?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, shoot!" He nearly yelled on seeing it in her hands, "I forgot to give that back!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Okay," Nami sighed, and picked up another, "this one looks interesting?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy leaned over a bit, and looked at the one in her hand, "Yeah, it's awesome! I love it, but I've already watched it!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You can't watch it again?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"But there's no fun in that!" Luffy pouted, and fell back onto the floor, his head nearly hitting the seat that was still reclined from probably the last time he was in here.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Well, what is one you haven't watched?" Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy sighed, and gestured to the pile beside him. They were a whole bunch of documentaries. "They look boring."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah," Nami replied, though some of them piqued her interest, "then why do you have them?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked up at the ceiling, "I asked Robin if she had any good movies, and she gave me those. I started watching one of them, and…"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I see." Nami replied, "yeah, that makes sense. When did you get close with Robin?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked at her, like she had two heads, "Oh, I met her…" he stopped, and puckered his lips looking away from her, "a week ago."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even if he could look normal when he lied, it was longer than a week ago that they went to Robin's place. Nami sighed, he had no hope. She was kind of curious on how he hadn't given away his occupation yet. But then again, she didn't even have the faintest idea of what that was, save a contortionist. "Luffy, are you a contortionist?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A what?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A contortionist?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A condolences?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Someone who is extremely flexible." Nami briefly defined.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm flexible!" Luffy replied, before practically bending his elbow in the opposite direction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And double-jointed," Nami corrected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So what do you wanna watch?" Luffy asked, his patience running thin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Um," Nami picked up a pirate focused movie, "I don't know," she looked at the TV, "is it a smart tv?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Smart tv?" Luffy asked, before giggling, "it's not a person, Nami!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are there streaming services on it?" Nami said, grabbing the remote that was on the only reclined recliner in the room. "Ah, it does," Nami smiled, before turning on the television and pressing her desired streaming service. He didn't have an account on it, nor did he even know it existed, since his eyes were gleaming with excitement and awe on this new information about his television screen. She logged onto her account, "You can't get on this account without me being here!" She yelled, not wanting to have any of his desired movies show up in her recommendation. "I know the perfect show to watch, Luffy." Nami smiled, and went to the search engine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy jumped backwards into the reclined chair, and grabbed at the meat pile she didn't realize he brought in. "We should have something to drink with it. Nami, can we drink what you brought?" He asked, as the thunder decided to roll.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, we can," Nami replied, and clicked on her desired movie, about some crazy rich guy, and girl, living in another country. She loved seeing all of the expensive things they bought, and could only wish she could get the same things, not to mention the plot was pretty good as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She brought the cooler with the orange juice, and two plastic cups, into the room, before closing the doors behind her, in hopes of limiting the amount of thunder she'd be able to hear during the movie. She poured Luffy a cup, though she made sure to make it a little less than before. She sat down in the recliner next to him, and crossed her legs. She picked up the remote and hit play for the movie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it good?” Luffy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few minutes passed, and Luffy broke the silence, “Nami, who’s he?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Watch, and you’ll see.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t even ten minutes into the movie, and he broke the silence again, “Nami, I don’t like that guy, he looks mean.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami paused the movie, and turned to face the idiot interrupting every few minutes, “Luffy!” she exclaimed, and his drink splashed all over his face, since he was taking a sip at the time, “could you please be quiet!” she then noticed his shocked expression, and she relaxed herself, “just for the movie, then you can talk.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He nodded, before he sipped what was left of his drink. He turned to her, as she played the movie, to ask for more of the orange juice, but as he opened his mouth, he closed it again, and settled to eat his meat instead. It wasn’t long before he had another question, and he turned to ask her it, but her angry face hadn’t subsided yet, so he turned back to the movie. It confused him, there was way too much information, and not enough action. He was glad his other friends didn’t always watch things like this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was pleased that Luffy decided to stay quiet, it was nice. Even if she had already watched the movie before, it was neat to have some company to watch it with this time. In the middle of the movie, she turned and poured herself another glass of orange juice, the table she set it on right next to her recliner. She turned back to watch the movie, and sipped her juice occasionally. By the time the movie was over, she had finished half the pitcher of orange juice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“See, Luffy, it wasn’t bad,” Nami smiled, “you can talk now.” she turned to face him, the orange juice still present on his face and abs, since he was still without a shirt. It was probably sticky now, but he obviously didn’t care, since he was now asleep. A half eaten lamb leg in one hand, his head nodding off to the side. He looked so peaceful, and to be honest, when he wasn’t being an idiot, he was pretty attractive. “How do I always get in situations like this?” Nami asked herself, feeling a little bit of deja vu. She stood from her seat, and made her way to the front of the theater he had in his basement. She tried the handle, and it was locked. She thought he had unlocked the door from the outside, so how come she couldn’t get out, from the inside. She turned back around, his black hair barely visible over the couches in the dimly lit room. She slowly made her way back down, so that she could get him to unlock the door, it just had to lock from both sides. Her phone rang on her descent to him, and she panicked, and answered the call right away, not wanting to wake his sleeping figure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Nami!” Nojiko said on the other end, “I heard there was a storm that hit you, are you and the orange trees alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nojiko!” Nami whispered, “Hi, um, yeah, I think so.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, why are you whispering?” her sister asked. “Are you doing something bad? Are you robbing?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? No!” Nami said, defending herself, before she remembered Luffy was sleeping at the foot of the room, she glanced over at him, and he didn’t move from his position, “why would I be doing that?” Nami whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, maybe because I’ve never heard you whisper on the phone before. You are at home, right?” Nojiko wanted to affirm, “because that storm was pretty bad, I heard.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m home.” Nami lied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is there someone in the room?” Nojiko asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s sister was very perceptive, even through the phone, when it came to her sister, and right now, Nami wished she wasn’t, “No, there’s no one else in the room.” Nami lied, as she tiptoed back down to Luffy. His eyes were still closed, and his body was still sticky with the orange juice. Nami wanted to clean it up, especially since it would probably also ruin his nice recliners.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, are you growing up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know!” Nojiko teased, and Nami’s eyes widened. She just had to be bringing that kind of thing up when she was currently wearing nothing but one of Luffy’s shirts and her underwear, while trapped in a dimly lit room with him sleeping shirtless, before her eyes. If Nojiko had been there to see it, she wouldn’t blame her for thinking that way.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Nojiko, that isn’t happening. I’ve been done with boys for a while now, why would I just suddenly hop on the wagon again.” Nami sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah,” Nojiko sarcastically agreed, “and that’s why you can’t stop talking about that ‘idiot nextdoor neighbor’ isn’t it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, he bugs me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s in the room with you right now, isn’t he?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Nami exclaimed, half because she was lying to her sister, and also because Luffy moved in his sleeping position and the lamb got on the seat, and she was sure the orange juice was getting on it as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I absolutely believe you, Nami.” Nojiko said, and Nami could almost see her smirking. “What’s he doing at your house, anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I made orange juice, Mom’s recipe.” Nami answered, as she carefully lifted the meat out of Luffy’s hand, and placed it onto the table next to her pitcher of orange juice. He had actually eaten all that meat in that short span of two and a half hours.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did he like it? It’s got a great kick!” Nojiko replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, he did, but he doesn’t have a high tolerance for alcohol.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Must not drink it often,” Nojiko reasoned, “But you have way too high of a tolerance for alcohol, Nami.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s true,” Nami replied, and leaned her body against the couch as she sat on the carpeted floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, how far have you gone?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” Nami asked, snapping her head up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, have you kissed him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, of course not.” Nami shook her head, and rested it back against the chair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You seem a little disappointed, Nami.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why would I be disappointed? Luffy and I are neighbors, Nojiko, friends. Why would I kiss him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because you like him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, as a friend!” Nami tried clarifying. She felt movement on the couch, and glanced up, Luffy had curled into a ball. “He’s probably cold,” she thought aloud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, what are you talking about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, um, nothing.” Nami replied, before she got up, and went through the curtains to try the door again, “Crap.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, what happened?” Nojiko teased.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami sighed, and leaned against the door, she looked up at the black curtains hanging in front of her, “Hey, Nojiko?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m gonna put you on speaker, but you’ll have to be quiet when you’re talking.” Nami announced, still whispering, to her sister, before removing the phone from her cheek, and putting it on speaker. She placed it on the ground beside her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why am I going on speaker, Nami?” Nojiko sighed, “you know how I hate that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Nami answered, “but I have to get these curtains down.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Curtains?” Nojiko asked as Nami reached on tiptoes at the bar that was holding the thick black curtains.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah.” Nami unhooked one side of the bar, and carefully made her way to the center, so she could unhook the otherside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why do you need the curtains?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami quietly laid the bar on the ground, and began removing one of the curtains from it, “He’s cold.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get a blanket.” Nojiko stated the obvious, though she didn’t know that was not quite possible for Nami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t, Nojiko,” Nami responded, as she successfully held the black curtain in her hands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And why can’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami sighed, and carried the make-shift blanket over to the sleeping owner of the house she was currently trapped in, she had put her phone in her pocket, “Because the door’s locked.” Nami laid the curtain atop Luffy, and smiled, slightly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re trapped in the same room as him!” Nojiko yelled. Nami cringed, as she quickly covered Luffy’s ears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nojiko!” She yelled in a whisper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” her sister replied in a much quieter tone, and Nami removed her hands from his ears, not failing to feel the softness of his cheeks once again. Nami grabbed her phone out of her pocket, and removed it from speaker-mode.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, it was a complete accident, and I don’t know how the door locked.” Nami sighed, and leaned against the couch again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are explaining everything to me!” Nojiko giggled, as if something super exciting were to come from it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After Nami had successfully explained the story to her sister, starting with how he had a movie theatre in his basement, and it had its own power system, to where she currently was, though purposefully leaving out important information like her current attire, and why she was in his house in the first place, she felt vibrations under her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Nojiko laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I’m serious,” Nami replied, as she scooted herself over, and noticed she was sitting on top of Luffy’s phone. He had gotten a multitude of texts, and his lock screen was currently visible. Nami picked up the phone, and although she knew she shouldn’t, she dismissed all of his notifications.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, this Luffy neighbor of yours really is an idiot?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep, pretty much,” Nami giggled lightly to Nojiko, as she looked at his lockscreen. It was a photo of him and another boy. Luffy was a couple years younger looking in the photo, and the boy with him, who looked around the age her neighbor was now, had black hair that framed his face, dark eyes, and freckles. He was slightly paler than the younger boy in the photo. They both looked so happy, Luffy’s eyes were squinted as he smiled one of his biggest smiles, the other boy was laughing about something, as he put bunny-ears behind Luffy’s head. He was wearing an orange hat, and wore a red beaded necklace, and though he was shirtless, you couldn’t see anywhere past his collarbone. Luffy wore a blue tank top, and his straw hat dangled behind him, though it was barely visible in the photo. “Cute.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What, did he do something silly?” Nojiko asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” she smiled, “he didn’t do anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I see,” Nojiko muttered, “Gen’s calling, I gotta go check on mom, Nami, I’ll call later.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kay,” Nami said, absently, “Talk to you later.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her sister hung up the phone, and Nami dropped hers beside her. Luffy had a smile on his face she hadn’t seen before. It seemed happier, more proud that the ones she did see. It almost hurt her, but she tried not to dwell on it. She placed the phone down, suddenly regretting getting rid of the notifications. She hadn’t read any of them, what if some of them were important. She looked up at his sleeping figure, his face had taken on a mixture of peace and happiness, and Nami leaned her head back against the recliner, closing her eyes.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>My, my, my... what is going to happen next???</p><p>Follow me on Patreon for a preview WIP of a photo of the next chapter!<br/>https://www.patreon.com/lissyart101?fan_landing=true</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Perdicament</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nami woke up underneath the curtain she had laid across Luffy, she felt his shirt had ridden up on her body, and she could feel skin against hers, so was a huge weight on her stomach. She looked down, and noticed Luffy sleeping on top of her. He had fallen out of the couch in the middle of the night, it appeared. Nami wiggled underneath him, hoping to wake him up, though seeing as he wouldn’t budge, she smacked his head.</p><p>“Ow, ow, ow!” he drowsily mumbled as she continued to hit him, “Usopp I’m up, I’m up!” he rubbed his eyes, “Go wake up Zoro now!”</p><p>“Luffy, I’m not Usopp.” Nami stated, as he turned his head to the side to see her, yawning.</p><p>“Oh, why are you under me?” he blinked, the sleep still evident in his eyes.</p><p>“You are on top of me!”</p><p>The boy rolled over, and sat up, his skin definitely sticky with the orange juice from the night before, if it was the following morning. Nami wasn’t sure, but she did remember her trying the door in order to find it locked, and she decided to tell him, “Luffy, do you have the keys to the door?” she briefly wondered why the door even had a lock in the first place.</p><p>“They keys?” Luffy thought to himself, his face turning a light shade of pink, “nope.” he laughed, “I left them in the big room!” He had a ridiculously happy smile on his tired face.</p><p>“The door is locked, Luffy,” she replied, and picked up her phone, half relieved to see it was only half past midnight.</p><p>“Oh, how’d that happen?” Luffy questioned, tilting his head to the door, clearly visible, since the curtains were missing.</p><p>“I don’t know, when I went to the door to open it, I realized it was locked.” Nami explained, but Luffy wasn’t listening as he clambered over to the door, and picked up the pole.</p><p>“Someone tried stealing the curtains!” He exclaimed, and held up the pole easily with one hand.</p><p>“Um, no, idiot!” Nami replied, and gathered up the curtain that he was using as a blanket, “you were cold so I covered you with it since the door is locked!” she yelled at him.</p><p>“The door is locked?” he turned and tried the handle, “Ah!” he yelled, and stared at Nami with wide eyes, “It’s locked, Nami!”</p><p>Nami wanted to hit him for his idiocy, and walked up to him, but yelled in his face instead, “Of course! That’s what I’ve been telling you!”</p><p>“Ah!” He brought his hands up to his head, “We’re stuck!”</p><p>“Do you have any keys, or a way to get out?” Nami asked, “Maybe kick down the door?”</p><p>“Franky’ll kill me if I do that!” Luffy yelled at her, as if that was an idiotic idea.</p><p>“Do you have any other ideas?” Nami asked, raising an eyebrow, and placing a hand on her hip.</p><p>“I’ll call Franky!” Luffy replied, and hurried back down to where he left his phone.</p><p>“Is there another way out, perhaps?” Nami asked, even though she hadn’t seen another door before.</p><p>“Nah, there’s only one door,” Luffy replied, lifting up all of the cushions for his device.</p><p>“Your phone is on the floor in the front row,” Nami pointed out, “I had just assumed you knew the door locked.”</p><p>“Thanks Nami!” Luffy said, and jumped over the recliners to grab his phone, “Yeah, they do, once they’re closed, it’s weird though, I didn’t close them.” He tilted his head to the right as he crossed his arms, “Was the storm that bad that it closed the doors!” His eyes went wide, but instead of being terrified of the storm he seemed to be amazed by it.</p><p>Nami slyly smiled, and glanced away from him, “Yeah, must have been,” she nervously laughed.</p><p>“Oi, Franky!” Luffy said into his phone, jumping over to Nami, “The doors to the movie room are closed.” Luffy slouched, “but the keys are outside the room, and we’re inside it!” Luffy looked over at Nami, as she waited for him to say something, “No, I’m not with Zoro, I’m with Nami.” Luffy nodded, as if agreeing to what Franky was saying, though his facial expression didn’t seem to quite understand it, “Can I break down the door?” Luffy asked, before his eyes went wide, and he slumped, “sorry, sorry.”</p><p>“Here, let me see it.” Nami said, and held her hand out for the phone.</p><p>“Okay, got it Franky!” Luffy replied, into the phone, and stood up straight a happy smile on his face, before he brought the phone away from his ear, and stuffed it in his pocket.</p><p>Nami was slightly irritated that he didn’t hand the phone to her, but she asked, “What’d he say.”</p><p>“He didn’t know.” Luffy answered, and giggled, “I’ll just have to break the ceiling.” he said, looking up, and swinging his arm back as if to punch it.</p><p>“Break the ceiling!” Nami asked, “No, you can’t do that!”</p><p>“Eh, why not?” Luffy asked, as he looked over at her.</p><p>“You could break the house!”</p><p>“What!” Luffy’s eyes widened again, “Nami, you’re so difficult.”</p><p>Nami hit him over the head, and leaned against the door, “I guess I could try to pick the lock,” she said, but she didn’t have any bobby pins with her, “Do any of your friends have the key to your house?”</p><p>“Yeah, Zoro has one.” Luffy replied, and sat down against the door.</p><p>“Alright, can you call him?” Nami asked, looking down at him.</p><p>“Yeah, I can, why?” Luffy replied, pulling out his phone.</p><p>“Nevermind, let me call him,” Nami stated, grabbing the phone from his hand, she turned it to face his face and the screen unlocked. She clicked on the contacts, and searched for Zoro. He was the only “Z” name Luffy had in his contacts. She called him, the phone rang for a few minutes, and Nami forgot that it was already technically the next morning, finally, right before it went to voicemail an extremely drowsy voice picked up.</p><p>“Oi, Luffy, why are you calling so late!”</p><p>“Hi, Zoro, was it?” Nami asked into the phone.</p><p>“Luffy, you sound like a girl.”</p><p>“That’s because I am a girl!” Nami yelled.</p><p>“What!” The voice on the other side yelled back, “No you aren’t, you idiot!”</p><p>“You’re the idiot!” Nami yelled into the phone, “I’m Nami,” she relaxed, “Luffy’s neighbor.”</p><p>“Oh. Okay.” Zoro’s voice went softer, though it was still quite deep, and sounded like he just woke up. “Why do you have Luffy’s phone?” he was skeptical this time.</p><p>“Luffy and I are stuck in the theater room of his basement, and he said you had the keys to the house, so I was hoping you could get us out.” Nami replied, slightly embarrassed to tell her neighbor’s popular friend this, especially since his other friend had seemed to try to match them together the first time they met.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, I’ll come save his ass.” Zoro replied, and hung up.</p><p>“Well, it looks like Zoro is gonna come and unlock the door for us.” Nami said, sliding down the door to sit next to Luffy.</p><p>Luffy hung his head, “I’m gonna take a nap.”</p><p>“You just woke up!” Nami replied, nearly hitting him, “besides, Zoro said he was coming to let us out, he doesn’t live far away does he?”</p><p>“No, he doesn’t,” Luffy replied, and brought his head up, “I walk to his house sometimes,” he turned to face Nami, “but he gets lost all the time!”</p><p>His nose was pretty close to her own, and she wanted to back up, “He gets lost? Hasn’t he come to your house before?”</p><p>“Yeah, multiple times, actually,” Luffy turned away from her and folded himself over, so his head rested on the ground. He was still sitting cross legged, but now it looked like someone literally folded him in half.</p><p>“So, how can he get lost?”</p><p>“I don’t know, he just does.” Luffy turned his head on the ground to look at her, “once he got lost in a desert, and ended up in a jungle.” Luffy yawned.</p><p>“But it shouldn’t take long for him to arrive though, right?” Nami asked, bringing her knees to her chest, before remembering both of their positions and the clothes she was currently wearing, and snapping her legs back down.</p><p>“Something like that,” Luffy replied, and folded his arms under his head.</p><p>“Doesn’t that position hurt?” Nami asked, but immediately remembered he was extremely flexible.</p><p>“No, why?”</p><p>“Nothing.” Nami turned her face away from him. She pulled out her phone, and found that it was nearly dead. She uttered a sigh in annoyance, and turned to face Luffy. She was still holding his phone, luckily, the screen hadn’t turned off yet, and she decided to amuse herself with it. “Do you have any games?” she asked.</p><p>“Yeah, but they're out there.” Luffy responded into the ground.</p><p>“No, on your phone.”</p><p>“Yeah, I do,” Luffy replied, before she heard a loud yawn.</p><p>Nami giggled lightly, and went to all of his apps, and she scrolled down to a few and selected one of the many action based games he had. It was probably three hours before she faintly heard the front door of the house open. She glanced at the door waiting for it to open, but when it didn’t she became skeptical, and thought someone was robbing her neighbor’s house. She nudged Luffy with her toe, but he was already fast asleep. Luffy had so many expensive things in the house, but she didn’t have anything she could do. She could probably call the police with his phone, and she nearly did when she heard someone stumble into something, “Crap!” she heard, “Why does his house keep changing!” It sounded a whole lot like Zoro, based on the two times she actually met him, and what she heard over the phone. She relaxed, and started playing the game again.</p><p>Another half hour passed, and she finally felt the door move behind her. She fell backwards onto the ground, the shirt riding up a little, probably exposing her undergarments, and her hands still held her neighbor’s device, which, miraculously, still had a decent amount of battery life left. Zoro looked down at her, and then at Luffy, and then at her. He looked at the phone she was holding, and looked over at the curtains on the floor.</p><p>“Rough night?” he asked, and squatted next to her, as she scrambled into a sitting position adjusting the shirt in the process. He had a scar across his left eye, sealing it shut, she hadn’t noticed it before, because she was too preoccupied with Robin’s situation. The three earrings dangled from his left ear, as his head tilted, waiting for her response. His hair looked greener in this lighting than it had before.</p><p>“Yeah, it was storming.”</p><p>“Why do you have his phone?” he asked, raising a brow.</p><p>“He let me play on it.” Nami defended herself.</p><p>“And he’s sleeping.” Zoro pointed out, “in a locked room, without a shirt, and his shirt is one that you are wearing.”</p><p>“No!” Nami held her hands up in defense, “Nothing happened!”</p><p>“Yeah, I know he wouldn’t do anything,” Zoro responded, as he rested himself in a sitting position, his three swords clanking against the ground. “But I don’t know squat about you.”</p><p>“I’m his neighbor, that’s all. We ended up playing in the rain, and my clothes got soaked, so I threw them in the dryer. I needed a shirt to wear, so I borrowed his, that’s all!”</p><p>Zoro nodded, as if he believed her, but it was evident he didn’t, “Yep, that’s what the culprit always says.” he then turned to the sleeping idiot, “Oi! Luffy!”</p><p>Luffy drowsily rose to a sitting position and rubbed his eyes, on noticing the light now coming into the room he was facing, he turned around, “Zoro!” he cried, and wrapped his arms around his savior, nearly crying on him, “Thank you! Nami was mean!”</p><p>Zoro glanced at the orange haired woman, before tearing the dark haired adult off of him, noticing his chest and neck were slightly sticky, “What happened?”</p><p>“I don’t know, I woke up, and Nami said the door was locked.” Luffy shrugged, before yawning, “I didn’t close the door though, the storm did!” His eyes were sparkling in amazement. “Isn’t that awesome, Zoro!”</p><p>“Yeah,” Zoro responded, slanting his open eye toward the woman in the room, “A true wonder.”</p><p>“Nami made this really good orange juice, Zoro, and she put that clear stuff that you like in it, you should try it!” Luffy smiled.</p><p>Zoro leaned over to the woman, “So you got him drunk, did you?” Nami gulped, and faintly shook her head. Zoro glanced into the room and noticed the pitcher on a small table, “Mind if I have some?” He asked, standing up, and making his way down to the table.</p><p>“Be my guest,” Nami replied, as Luffy suddenly was in her face again.</p><p>“Hey, Nami, can I have some more? I wanted to ask you during the movie, but you were mad at me. But now you’re not mad, so can I have some more?” he asked, his eyes wide and adorable, his large smile, awaiting her answer, precious and innocent.</p><p>“Yeah, how about we all have some.” Nami responded, and stood up, straightening the black t-shirt.</p><p>Zoro came out of the theater room, with the pitcher, and closed the doors behind him, “Alright!” He cheered, and placed it gallantly on the counter in the kitchenette.</p><p>“Yipee!” Luffy jumped to his feet, and slid into one of the chairs, “Nami’s orange juice is really good, Zoro! It’s better than Sanji’s drinks.”</p><p>“Obviously,” Zoro replied, twitching his eyebrow, “That idiot love-cook can’t cook at all.”</p><p>Luffy just laughed, as Nami poured three glasses. “Here.” She was slightly curious about their friendship, or acquaintance with Sanji, Luffy said they made him food, and that was all she had to go off of. Of course Sanji’d be making them food if they stopped at the Baratie, where he works, it was his job.</p><p>“Hey, Nami!” Luffy announced, as he looked down at his glass, “Zoro has more than me!”</p><p>“Of course, Luffy,” Nami replied smiling, before she hit him over the head, “because last time you drank two full glasses you ended up drunk!”</p><p>“Ah,” Zoro sighed, as he brought the drink from his lips, “That’s got a good kick!”</p><p>“Really?” Luffy asked, and downed his glass.</p><p>“No! Luffy, don’t do that!” Nami cried, and then dropped her head in defeat.</p><p>“More please!” Luffy announced, shoving his glass toward Nami.</p><p>Zoro threw an arm over her shoulders, and cheered, “You make some quality drinks, witch!” he then thrust his empty glass in the air, “Let’s have some more!”</p><hr/><p>WIP of a picture I've been drawing for this chapter. Once it is complete, it will be posted on my Patreon, under the Solid-Script tier!</p><p>Will also be posting on the New Neighbor: Picture Previews </p><p>
  
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>OMG! I am actually drawing parts of this story! That's insane! (After another five or so chapters, if the work is finished, I'll upload the actual finished photo to this story as well.)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Fever</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami woke up with a high fever the following morning, as she lay sprawled on Luffy’s basement couch. She could hear rustling above her, and Zoro was gone. She yawned and sat up, but quickly laid back down, her head pounding. On top of the fever, she might have had too many drinks with the famous fighter last night. Nami glanced around her immediate vicinity to see if she could find a cup of water. However she found none, and she groaned, she stared up at the ceiling for a little while, before she heard someone on the stairs. Everything seemed much louder than it should be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Nami, you’re awake!” Luffy said, as he leaned over the back of the couch and stared into her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy,” she groaned, and curled herself into a ball, “stop being so loud.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He walked around the couch, and sat next to her, he wore a yellow shirt with a black smiling face printed on it, and red shorts. “No, I’m not,” he defended himself, “Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” Nami replied, before forcing herself in a sitting position.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He still looked at her concerned, “You don’t look fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Trust me, I am.” Nami said, standing up, but wobbling slightly, “I just need to get my clothes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy stood up as well, and placed a hand on his neighbor’s forehead, it rested there a few seconds, before he pulled it back quickly, “Nami! You’re burning up!” He shook his hand out, “Are you dying!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, idiot!” Nami yelled back, but instantly regretted it. She clasped her hand on her head, and sat back down on the chair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What am I supposed to do!” he yelled, and grabbed his head, in panic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It isn’t bad, I just need to rest.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” Luffy cried, his face practically on hers as he leaned into her, “You need a doctor.”</span>
</p><p><span>“I honestly think I’m fine,” Nami replied, but she knew she wasn’t, and as much as she tried to hide it, he knew, too.</span><span><br/></span> <span>Luffy jumped up, pushing her back onto the couch, and rushed to grab his phone. He scrolled through his contacts, until he found Chopper’s, and glancing over at Nami, he called his doctor, “Hey! Chopper!” he announced, as soon as the other end was received, he had it on speaker, so Nami could hear every word, as he sat on the couch beside her.</span></p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Luffy, what’s wrong?” Chopper asked, curious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Nami!” Luffy was still panicking, “She’s burning up!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” the doctor yelled back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is Nami gonna die!” Luffy cried, yelling into the speaker of the phone. Nami couldn’t help but roll her eyes, this guy was being way over dramatic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah!” the doctor freaked as well, “I don’t know! Is it that bad?” Luffy nodded, but the boy didn’t see it, though he continued, “You might have to take her to Doctorine!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” Luffy yelled back, “But she lives so far away!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m further, Luffy,” Chopper responded, “I’m in Torino, remember?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah! You’re right!” Luffy yelled back, “What mountain was that again?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mount Drum, it’s the big one with the castle on it.” The doctor replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy turned to Nami, “Nami! I’m taking you up Mount Drum.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami could barely focus anymore but she was certain that Mount Drum was part of the large mountains outside the skirts of Sabaody, which meant that his doctor was further than that. She was certain her fever wasn’t even that bad, and she began to stand up again, but nearly collided into Luffy’s chest, had he not caught her and laid her back down. “Luffy, I’m fine, trust me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy shook his head softly, “But you aren’t, and Chopper isn’t here right now, so I’m taking you up the mountains, is that okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Giving up, and putting all her trust in her neighbor, Nami smiled, “Sure, I trust you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy bent backwards against the couch, and pulled Nami onto his back, “Do you need a blanket?” he asked, feeling her nod against his back, he made his way up the stairs, and to the closet, where he managed, after a little struggle, to open the door and pull out a yellow and orange plaid blanket, which he threw over himself, and onto Nami. Then he made his way out to his car, grabbing his keys on the way out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami noticed he forgot to lock his door, but didn’t say anything, since she was losing consciousness, and he opened the passenger door to his vehicle, and swung her around to his front, where he gently sat her into the seat. After she was sitting, though she had trouble keeping her head up, Luffy dashed around the car, to the driver’s side, and started the car. Nami fell asleep along the way, and when she woke up, they were at the foot of the mountain, in a parking lot, it looked like. There were no roads to go to the top.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s gonna be okay, Nami.” Luffy told her, as he picked her up, and settled her, along with the blanket comfortably on his back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami felt her fever rising, and became slightly concerned. Luffy made his way over to a bike vendor, and she saw him renting out a bike with a wagon attached to the back. The man was mumbling something about how that was dangerous to take up the mountain, and Nami realized what was going on. There was a road to the top of the mountain, but it was a bike trail. She briefly remembered Luffy’s doctor, Chopper, saying something about a castle on the top of the mountain. She looked up, and there was a large mansion at the top. She assumed it could be considered a castle from Luffy’s childish mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her neighbor carefully laid her down in the wagon, and covered the top. She was breathing rather heavily, and his kind eyes were telling her that it was going to be okay. She nodded, not quite understanding why she was suddenly with such a high fever, it didn’t really make sense to her. Sure, she had been soaked in the rain, and then walked around in her underwear, and a t-shirt, then got drunk, hence the headache, but nothing all that bad really, besides, Luffy had been just as wet as she was in the rain, and he walked around without a shirt, until she had seen him this morning. She tried to rack her brain on when she actually got the fever, but it hurt to think, so instead she lazily watched the trees go by over her head, with an occasional glance to Luffy as he biked up the mountain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even if Luffy did have nice muscles, and abs, he was rather lean, there was no mistaking, so seeing him so easily bike up a mountain, with her in a wagon behind him was rather astounding to watch. She watched as his foot slipped a few times, causing the bike to begin rolling backwards, and branches hit him in the face as he made his way up the mountain. Eventually, not being able to keep her eyes open, due to the immense pain in her head, she drifted off to sleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When she awoke she was in a white room, with a large window. She sat up slowly, the fever diminished enough to do that. She glanced around the room and saw a rather aged woman, though dressed as if she was in her early to mid twenties, before her. The woman made her way over to her, and knocked her over the head, telling her to lay down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where am I?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In my house.” the woman responded, and sighed, “Luffy brought you here, didn’t he?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I think so, I was falling asleep up the mountain, so I don’t remember much.” Nami responded, “You know him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That idiot kid came two years ago, before, with a blue haired girl. He persuaded my pupil to leave the nest with him. That kid didn’t have any friends until he came.” She replied, taking a swig of her bottle of sake.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where is Luffy, now?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That idiot was all messed up when he came up here. Didn’t expect him again. He was injured from head to toe, and the bike he rode was all messed up. It was a wonder you weren’t injured.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami nodded, “I didn’t think the wagon would be safe either.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wagon? Did the boy have a wagon attached?” the woman asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened to it?” Nami questioned, as she began to rise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sit down! Idiot!” The woman said, pushing Nami back into the bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who are you?” Nami asked, “Doctorine?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Doctorine? Ah, so you must know Chopper, I’m Dr. Kureha,” she responded, and took another drink of her sake, as she sat back in the only chair in the small room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know Chopper to an extent, Dr. Chopper, right?” Nami clarified, “Luffy’s doctor?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose he became that kid’s doctor when he left, what a dumb pupil, he doesn’t know much at all yet!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So Chopper is Luffy’s personal doctor?” Nami clarified, “what made that happen?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, that strawhat kiddo came here before, and jumped on the opportunity to become friends with my Chopper. Turns out, this house, and the mountains, were trying to be bought by Wopple, and my boy tried to fix the situation. When that annoying brat came in and got rid of him, ‘never to return’ was what we people of the mountains had hoped, though he now made himself rather famous in the toy industry now.” Kureha frowned, before gulping down some more of her sake. “My boy was always a tender kid, and was rejected by his own family when he was little. Poor guy’s an orphan, so when your friend came in and asked to be his friend, it felt too good to be true. I knew it was best for the seventeen year old, he had been cooped up in here for far too long, so I kicked him out!” She laughed, but she had tears in her eyes remembering the moment, “Until Luffy, his unofficial foster father was the only one who really cared for him, but he died due to poisoning, by Wopple’s people. That idiot landlord!” She huffed, before gulping down some more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So is Luffy your son’s only friend?” Nami asked, concerned, she didn’t like not having friends, her time as Arlong’s girlfriend had ruined her hopes of having them, until that mysterious kid had saved her from the abuser.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hah, I bet he’s made other friends along the way!” Kureha said, smiling, “Haven’t seen him in over two years though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So all that happened just two years ago?” Nami asked, to clarify.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Kureha responded, before getting up and checking Nami’s temperature again, “but you need to rest for at least three days, can’t have a patient walking around in your condition.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t!” Nami pestered, “What do I have, anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“From the looks of it, you’ve had this for around a week already, it shouldn’t have jumped this quickly though, and should have gone away. Did you do anything yesterday to cause it to fluctuate?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, nothing really,” Nami replied, “I didn’t think I even had an illness, to be honest,” she suddenly remembered that she had been outside in the rain, “actually, yes, I had been in the rain yesterday.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And from the looks of it, you didn’t get much sleep either,” Kureha smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami glanced at her appearance, and nervously sighed, “No, actually, I didn’t, but not because of what you’re thinking!” Nami defended herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy burst into the room, and Nami nearly jumped, “Oi! Old hag! Where’s the meat?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Does he not have any manners, Nami thought to herself, as she sighed audibly at his entrance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dr. Kureha had hit him over the head, “I’m not even that old!” She said, as he rubbed his head, “I’m only in my young nineties!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d never had guessed,” Nami mumbled to herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oi! Nami!” Luffy said, as he noticed her presence, and looked over at her, “Are you feeling better? Can we go home? Wanna eat? Do you have food?” He asked, getting closer to her with each question.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami backed her head away slightly, “Are you sure you are okay?” she pointed to his body which was wrapped in bandages.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m fine! Are you?” He asked, his hands pressed against the bed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Nami began, but couldn’t finish as he turned back to the doctor present.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You got any meat? I’m hungry!” he called out to her, as his knees failed him and he puddled onto the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami giggled, “How long did you say I had to stay here?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said three days, no earlier.” Kureha responded, sternly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t be here for three days, though!” Nami replied, trying to rise from her bed, only to have the doctor push her back down on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s your own fault for making it worse!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m hungry!” Luffy whined.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you give me the medicine, and I’ll take care of myself at home. I have maps to complete, and oranges to tend to.” Nami pleaded, forcing herself into a sitting position, thankful that the doctor didn’t push her back down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I can’t let you go. The weather up here is a whole ton colder than the weather where you’re used to. If you go outside without my coat, then your condition will definitely worsen. Besides, the medicine I keep, for you, is where it’s safe in my cabinets.” Kureha folded her arms, “Idiots like you are the worst!” she walked out of the room, “and no, I have no meat!” she slammed the door shut, leaving Luffy and Nami in the room alone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, do you have meat?” Luffy asked, looking up at the orange haired neighbor of his.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Luffy, I don’t.” She replied, before actually looking out the window. She noticed the snow covering the landscape, save the bottom of the mountain, she turned to Luffy, “Did you really bike up this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked at her as if she was asking a stupid question, “Well, I had to,” he shrugged, “you were going to die.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was not!” she yelled back, sliding the covers off of herself, “Come on, let’s go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She said you couldn’t.” Luffy responded, staring up at her, not moving from his position.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked down at him, as she leaned over her legs, folding her arms over them. When her skin touched them, she remembered they were still bare, and she was still only in his t-shirt, “If I get her coat, then we can leave.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy smiled, and jumped to his feet, “Alright! I’ll go get the bike!” he ran out of the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought it broke.” Nami pointed out, as she pulled on the coat that was at the edge of the bed. It went down to her knees, so she was grateful she was covered, though she did notice she had no shoes. She grabbed a pair of the doctor’s at the door of the room, and the medicine, and made her way down to meet Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had found the bike, and although it was a little torn up, it was still rideable. There was only one seat Nami noticed. He wasn’t wearing a coat in the weather, and she shivered. He was also wearing only flip flops and shorts, added to the yellow t-shirt and his bandages. How was he not cold, he climbed onto the bike, and motioned for her to join him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, there’s only one seat,” She said, standing a little ways aways.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And?” he asked, on not receiving a response, he gestured behind him, and commanded, “Get on my back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hesitantly, Nami climbed onto the bike behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She felt him hoist her legs up and around his hips, after he felt her secure them around him, he kicked one leg off the ground, and pushed off on the bike. Nami felt the cold air hit her face, and half regretted leaving the warmth of the building. However, she felt Luffy’s body heat against her, and she hugged him tighter. His neck was cold, though, from the weather she assumed, “Luffy,” she mumbled, as she rested a chin on his shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah?” Luffy responded, before turning the bike so it didn’t hit a rock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aren’t you cold?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Luffy half turned his face, and then as if he suddenly felt the cold, she felt him shiver, “Ah, Nami, it’s freezing!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You just noticed?” Nami asked, before closing her eyes, too weak to actually hit him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s get out of the cold as quickly as possible!” Luffy said, started pedaling faster.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a wonder, when they got back to the car, that they had gotten off the mountain safely, Luffy kept wanting to jump the bike on a slant, to see how high it would go, and although they only did it once, the bike wasn’t even in the best shape to begin with. Luffy got an ear-full from the vendor, and Nami had to promise to pay for it. When she was comfortably in the seat of Luffy’s car, while they had been out of the cold weather of the summit for some time, Nami still felt the urge to turn on the heated seats, or at least her own. She curled Dr. Kureha’s coat around her, as she tucked her legs in, so she would be completely enveloped in the warmth. Luffy got in soon after, and smiled, “I’m glad you’re better, Nami,” he said, before backing out of the parking spot, rather slowly, to her surprise, and safely drove them back to their homes. His specifically, because Nami pestered him about how she’d been in his shirt for three days. He didn’t seem to mind, either way, though he seemed slightly relieved he didn’t have to take her to her house.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>What'ya think? I loved that moment in the anime and manga, so I just HAD to add it into my story, lol. Anyway, I'm gonna be trying to catch this up to the amount of chapters I already have written, though still not gonna upload over one post a day.<br/>If you want previews on any of the work that I've done, aka, that photo that I tried to add into it from chapter 17, which is going smoothly, gotta say, I upload my wip on my Patreon, for the Solid-Script tier you can see it.<br/>That sound good?<br/>Great! Thanks for leaving a kudos to all who have, and thanks to all those who have commented as well, means a lot! Helps me improve my writing!</p><p>Follow on tumblr, or Patreon, for more (exclusive) work!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Law</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>A couple weeks later, Nami was sitting on her couch with her television on, as she ate her oatmeal and drank her morning orange juice. On the screen, it showed the news from the past week, a brief overview of it, before they got to the important stuff. Something about a new ambassador, who was also a surgeon, was introduced, another thing on the kingdom the ambassador, Jinbei, used to be for was suffering a sudden turmoil, as someone had been planning on overthrowing the king. However, that turn of events had been put to a halt within one day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami watched as although they seemed to be helpful, these seven men were causing a little havoc. Nami looked at the photo they had of the supposed captain of this ‘vigilante,’ as Robin put it, group. He looked remarkably like the person she had seen at the ice cream shop, and although his sunglasses covered his eyes, and a good deal of his cheeks, he was smiling, and held a hand up as if to say ‘hello’ to whomever took the photo of him. He looked like an idiot, though his voice had been so stern, and serious when she had seen him. His whole crew, so to speak, was. However, they mentioned seven, and Nami was certain she had only seen three, although there was also a sniper somewhere, so that’d make four. The other three must have been either somewhere else, or they were the brains behind the operation, Nami assumed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wasn’t one to like secrets, and while her neighbor’s bugged her, she also was curious on who this vigilante was. It was obvious the government wanted him dead, they literally called him a wanted criminal on the news. Though his team did help her escape the terrorist attack. She sipped on her orange juice, her oatmeal long gone, and watched as there were reports of a riot in the small country of Dressrosa, not far from The Capital. It was old news, but they were going back over it, because the ambassador, who was also the ruler of the country, though the size of a city, was making big progress in improving the happiness of the people there. Nami smiled, from the looks of it, that would be a place that Sanji would absolutely enjoy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stood up, and turned off her television, deciding on going on a visit to Alabasta, to see Vivi. She went upstairs, and dressed herself, before remembering she had a few maps to finish. She glanced in her cartography room, and sighed. There they were, sitting on the desk, waiting for her fingers to pick up the pen, and elegantly draw across the page. Just as she was deciding to do so, she heard her doorbell ring. She made her way back down the stairs, and opened the door, “Hello?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, I am Captain Tashigi,” the officer with dark blue hair, tied up in a clip at the back of her head, greeted her. Her red glasses were resting just above her forehead, and she brought them down, before shifting her feet slightly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Nami, may I help you?” Nami replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, there were reports of a vigilante in this area, I’m sure you know of him, we need to catch him immediately.” Captain Tashigi told her, and rested her hand on the hilt of the sword she carried, although she also carried a gun, or taser, on her belt, it was obvious she had a passion for swords. They weren’t used much anymore, with the exception of the fencing swords, in kendo, and then Zoro and his three swords.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hadn’t heard of a vigilante in this area, officer,” Nami politely responded, “but if I see one, I’ll be sure to let your department know.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you for your cooperation,” Tashigi replied, and nodded her head slightly, before walking down the path to her car, and drove a little ways, slowing down in front of Luffy’s house, but on not seeing his vehicle, she sped up and went around the bend and out of sight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy wasn’t home again, Nami sighed, and closed her front door, right before another knock came to the door, and Nami opened it again, to meet with her other neighbor, a young girl with blond hair tied into two braids.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Nami-san,” She greeted, with a smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, hi Conis!” Nami smiled, “you’re back!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The girl smiled, and bent down to pet her small white dog, “Su wanted to come home, badly!” she smiled, then stood back up, “How’s the bike?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, it’s a little rusty, I’ll be honest.” Nami responded, before gesturing inside for her neighbor to join her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My father can take a look at it, if you want,” Conis said, picking up Su, and following Nami inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That would be great, if he wouldn’t mind, that is,” Nami smiled, and sat down on her couch, Conis took the loveseat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll let him know then,” she smiled, “Who's the new neighbor?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, that’s Luffy,” Nami sighed, “Sometimes I wish Vivi were back, I’ll be honest.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see,” Conis frowned, looking down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, not because I don’t want to hang out with you, Conis, it’s just he’s an idiot.” Nami shook her head, and crossed her legs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I get it, I understand,” Conis smiled, “Vivi was your friend, it would only make sense for you to want her to stay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami felt a little burdened, sure she was friends with Conis, and Vivi, but neither of them were friends with each other. They’d hear about the other, but they had never really met each other. Conis would go with her grandfather to help out on his farm, in Skypiea, quite often, so Vivi and her would never meet, unless it was passing each other on a walk, or on the road.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, how was Skypiea this time?” Nami asked, “Nothing major happened, I hope.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, nothing like that,” Conis smiled, “It was really peaceful actually, grandfather Gan had many new pumpkins to pick, so I had fun. Father had come with me, this time, remember?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, of course I do,” Nami smiled back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was a lot more fun with him there, since his injuries from the last time he went have healed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s good to hear.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>About two years ago, after Nami had moved to Sabaody, and met Conis, she had left for Skypiea. Then Vivi had moved in, and that was when Nami and Vivi got close, however, Conis had her own problems in the country of Skypiea. Apparently, the new ruler there, Enel, had threatened to destroy the country. He even had a competition to see who was the bravest, and he would take them with him after he left the country to perish. Conis’ father, Pagaya, had been severely injured by the ‘game’ as Enel called it, even though he wasn’t competing. The capital city didn’t believe he’d destroy the country, until Conis was able to convince them, after ‘betraying’ them before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Conis had led the immigrants, who hadn’t paid their dues, to the capital’s capital. It was a mountain just at the edge of the city, and that was where the epic game had taken place. Apparently, she had messed up, and told the immigrants they were to die, because Enel was just that cruel, and the whole city could have been punished for just telling the immigrants something so important. It was an awful reign, and everyone wanted Conis’ adoptive grandfather, Gan Fall, to reign again, though it didn’t seem very possible at the time. No one, outside of Skypiea, with the exception of Pagaya and Conis, knew about how this was resolved, other than Enel’s sudden departure, but, according to Conis, the immigrants, who were supposed to die, were the ones that saved them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The country was rather peaceful again, and Nami hoped her friend would take her with them on their trip there sometime. Gan Fall was now the ruler of Skypiea again, although he liked to tend his garden. Because of the load on his shoulders often, Conis, until recently, would go, with only Su to accompany her, to help him out. Now her father was better, and he would join her occasionally. Nami had met one other person from Skypiea, although he had left before Enel’s reign. He helped her out in learning the weather, when she hadn’t found her flat in Sabaody yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Conis jumped at the sound of gunshots, and she turned a worried face to her friend, her story stopped of its grandeur, “Nami, what was that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was also confused, Luffy was gone, so his friends wouldn’t be shooting in his backyard, so what was going on now? Her and Conis made their way to the large window, and looked out at the road. There was Captain Tashigi, whom Nami had met before, and Vice Admiral Smoker, Tashigi’s boss, as they were standing up to a mad scientist with a white lab coat. The new ambassador who was introduced just recently was out there with them, and an olive green haired woman, who was seemingly protecting children.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was concerned, these kids didn’t look like they wanted to be there. However, the police were trying to get them back, and the ambassador was stopping them, it seemed. Was this really happening just outside her window? “Conis, stay here.” Nami said, as Conis gripped Su, in a comforting manner, although the dog looked like it was comforting Conis. Nami made her way out of her house, and to the scientist. The police were no match for the ambassador, and he had them on the ground, out of breath, and near bleeding.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Excuse me, sir.” Nami said, sassily to the scientist, “these children look like they are having an awful time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?” he asked her, before breaking out into an extremely annoying cackle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The green haired woman smiled wryly, before turning to the children, “Are you having an awful time?” she asked, and the children clutched at her as if to say no. The woman nodded, and followed the scientist into the limo that had been stopped by the police. They drove off, leaving the ambassador, and he turned to face her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” She exclaimed, and began pointing her finger at him, “You! How dare you! I thought you were supposed to be helpful, but here you are, helping someone kidnap children!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Kidnap?” He asked, as he walked up to her, and led her aside. He also carried a sword, and Nami found it annoying how many swords she was seeing recently. “Come with me,” he sighed, as he walked off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami begrudgingly followed him, and noticed he was making his way through her orange trees and into Luffy’s backyard. She stared at him as he just jumped over the fence, like it wasn’t trespassing his yard, let alone hers, though she walked through the gate, and followed him. The ambassador made his way into the forest lining the edge of the backyard, just beyond where Nami had seen the target set up, that Usopp was shooting at, not long ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is trespassing, you know?” Nami pointed out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And?” he asked, as he had gotten into the depth of the woods, and crawled into a small cave opening. Nami followed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>To her surprise, the ceiling of the cave was high enough for her to stand straight, and not even touch the ceiling if she lifted her arms up. She glanced around the cave, and found a few children in similar attire as the ones she had seen outside her home, huddled around a teen boy. The boy wore a blue, puffy baseball cap on his head, with a white x in a pink circle labeled on it. He had short brown hair, and dark brown eyes. His nose was small, and while it was slightly chilly in the confines of the cave, he had a yellow and white vertically striped tank top, while his arms were covered in bandages, and brown shorts. He was wearing black boots though. He was comforting the children, and telling them it was going to be okay, and they’d be able to go back to their families soon.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is going on here?” Nami asked, raising her hands in the air, as she looked at the teen and the ambassador.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t you tell?” the ambassador asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It looks like you are in league with the man taking the children,” Nami stated, angrily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not what this is.” The teen spoke up, his childlike voice reminding her of someone she heard before.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then what is it?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, they’ve been kidnapped, but they’ve also been drugged. Tra-guy is also a doctor, and him and I are going to try to find a cure to this, while he gets at the bigger head behind it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, and who are you?” Nami asked, raising an eyebrow, skeptically.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m a doctor as well,” the boy stated, as he rubbed the kids’ backs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Doctor who?” Nami asked, and crossed her arms, “how can I trust you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I don’t know your name either!” the boy stated, as he half hid behind the children.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Nami, I live in the house with the orange trees,” Nami sighed, “I had seen the children out my front window and came to investigate. Why did you bring me out here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know Luffy, right?” the boy asked, before Tra-guy could defend himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course, he’s my neighbor.” Nami responded, stating the obvious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good! So that means that-” he was cut off by Tra-guy’s stare, and then he changed his sentence, “it would make sense for you to know the actual story behind it,” he continued, “and since you seemed so concerned about the children, Tra-guy brought you here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tra-guy?” Nami questioned, and turned to him, with a raised eyebrow, “I had thought that…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Trafalgar Law.” Law corrected, “Luffy-ya is letting us use his backyard.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, makes sense,” Nami sighed, “I still don’t trust you though, but, I’d like to help with the children.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, so should we tell him?” the boy asked Law.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, he’d ruin it.” Law twitched an eyebrow.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>okay, so now we're getting to the interesting parts!!!</p><p>another arc I enjoyed, so I added this in. Also, how can Law not be in this story?</p><p>Your thoughts?</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Secrets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“How can I help?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t tell anyone.” Law told her, his expression still as somber as it was on the television.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Obviously, I won’t, but are you sure you guys aren’t doing anything, illegal?” Nami asked, pointing at the group of kids, “if someone were to see this, they’d think you were the ones kidnapping the children, and that mad scientist looking guy is the one saving them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Caesar isn’t saving them, that much is certain.” Law answered, hanging his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you know about Caesar, anyway?” Nami asked, taking a seat on a rock.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s mean, forcing the children to eat these drugs, and calling them a candy. It’s what keeps them in his clutches.” the boy stated, hugging two of the kids.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So how have you separated these children?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was able to give them a temporary antidote to the drug, but it won’t last long.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One kid ran up to her, and grabbed at her leg, looking up with big eyes, “Are you going to help us, too?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” Nami responded, gently combing her fingers through the black tangled mess of hair. She had a soft spot for children, and those adorable large brown eyes were difficult to say ‘no’ too, anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a little while, the children fell asleep, and the boy covered them with blankets Law had provided. Nami felt like maybe, since the children weren’t there, she’d be able to get a better grasp on the situation. But as she opened her mouth to speak, Law got up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where are you going?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t be gone for too long, I’ll be suspected.” Law glared at her, before ducking out of the cave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That doesn’t answer my question!” Nami nearly yelled, as she followed him out, “you’re just going to leave the kids here!” She bumped into something when she turned around the cave to follow the ambassador, Trafalgar Law. She gripped her nose, “owe” she muttered, and looked at what she bumped into.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah!” the thing responded, leaping backwards a few feet, “Nami! What are you doing here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, it’s just you Luffy,” Nami sighed, in relief, “I have to catch Trafalgar, he hasn’t answered my question!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tra-guy?” Luffy asked, and turned behind him, “did he do something?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You call him ‘Tra-guy’ too?” Nami asked, and stopped right before she passed him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That boy in the cave, who claims to know you, called him the same thing,” Nami clarified, “the cave with all the children they’re sheltering.” His face looked a little confused, and that made her skeptical of Law even more, “They said you let them use your yard.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh!” Luffy hit his palm with his fist, “that boy!” he giggled, “You mean Chopper!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I guess,” Nami shrugged, “He never gave me a name.” then she realized why the teen’s voice sounded familiar. Luffy had already started into the cave and Nami followed, “Wait, wait, Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy had already entered the cave, and he called back, as she made her way through the small entrance, “Yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is this Chopper, your doctor? Dr. Chopper?” She asked, poking at his shoulder, the one she had patched up, and his doctor then did a better job later, after he broke the stitches she had done.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Luffy smiled, then turned to look at Chopper, “he’s a great doctor, right Chopper?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper looked over, and did a shy little dance, “Calling me a great doctor doesn’t make me happy, you idiot!” he called back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You sure look happy,” Nami pointed out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy turned back to face her, “What are you doing here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I had seen the children outfront and that Tra-guy had taken me here, telling me not to tell anyone.” Nami explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, I see.” Luffy nodded, then went up to Chopper, who had just covered the children who had gone to sleep. “Hey Chopper guess what!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper lifted up his face, “What? And be quiet, Luffy, the children are sleeping!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Remember that sky island?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami had been beginning to take her leave, but she turned slightly to eavesdrop on their conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Skypiea, right?” Chopper clarified.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah, that place!” Luffy pointed at his friend, excited, “I just saw that old man we met there!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That Gan guy with the weird horse?” Chopper asked, as if in clarification.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, that other guy! Remember that girl who helped us?” Luffy asked, before gaining a nod from his younger, though possibly more mature, friend, “Her dad!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Really?” the boy stood up, “I wanna say hi!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shhhh!” Luffy announced, louder than it should have been it seemed, “We can’t!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, right.” Chopper nodded, and got back down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, Luffy?” Nami asked, daring to admit she had been listening, the manchild turned around and looked at her, waiting for her to continue, “You don’t perhaps mean Conis and Pagaya, do you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked at her, with wide eyes, “Conis? Papaya?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nevermind,” Nami shrugged, “How long ago did you go to Skypiea?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy’s eyes widened even more, and even in the cold cave, Nami could have sworn she saw him begin sweating, he turned his eyes away from her, and pouted, “I’ve never been to Skypiea.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re such a liar,” Nami sighed, and sat down next to where he squatted, “why don’t you tell me anything? We’ve been friends for a while now, haven’t we?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked over at her, and he was about to speak when Chopper intervened, “Luffy’s wanted to.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami turned to look at the teen, “Then how come he hasn’t? I honestly thought we were friends.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We are!” Luffy defended himself, “I want to tell you, really! But…” he trailed off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you not trust me, Luffy?” Nami felt hurt, she felt betrayed again, but she couldn’t blame this boy, according to Usopp, when they first met, he had been betrayed a lot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I do trust you!” Luffy replied, nearly yelling, “I let you stitch me, I let you ride Mini Merry, I even let you hold my hat!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper’s eyes widened, “Wow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, and that’s supposed to prove that you trust me?” Nami didn’t get the point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy let you hold his hat?” Chopper asked, joining the two.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, is there a problem with that?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That hat is really important to Luffy,” Chopper responded, as he glanced over at the older boy, the hat resting on his back, tied around the neck, “I think Zoro and Usopp are the only other people who have held it, though I haven’t been friends with him for as long.” he whispered into her ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That hat is that important to you?” Nami asked, turning to face him. He had told her it was important before, and even nearly fought her for it, but she hadn’t known it was that important to him, so much as only two of his friends, other than herself, had ever held it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy nodded, and looked away from her, “Do you not trust me?” he mumbled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Luffy,” Nami began, but he didn’t face her, “I do trust you, I just feel like you’re hiding something rather important from me, and I want to know what it is.” she explained, “Is it dangerous, is it so bad that you can’t tell me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy didn’t respond, instead he was sucking in his lips, visibly forcing himself not to tell her. Chopper sighed, and turned to Nami, “It looks like we can trust you, and I’d tell you if I could, but, it’s Luffy’s call on this.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So why haven’t you told me, Luffy?” Nami said, getting on the defensive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy had had enough, and he turned to face her, “Sanji said not to!” he yelled, then stormed out of the cave, forgetting why he had come in there in the first place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji? Nami sighed, was it something that could hurt her? Sanji would only do that if it was something that could harm her, right? Sanji cared about her well-being, so, what other reason was there? Luffy was involved in something dangerous to her, and that was the reason he didn’t tell her. She could tell the boy wasn’t lying, he couldn’t lie. She made a move to go after him, but a soft voice told her to stop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It wasn’t just Sanji, Nami.” Chopper explained, “and I bet the others are fine with it now, but it’s all on Luffy to decide.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t understand,” Nami curled herself up, being left in the dark was so hurtful to her. She was concerned now, and her trust in Luffy might have just wavered, it wasn’t as strong as it had been. After a little while, she rose to her feet, and made her way out of the cave, leaving Chopper alone with the children. She walked through the cluster of trees back into Luffy’s main yard, and she saw him on his back porch, he was looking at the trees, and when he saw her, though she couldn’t see his face, she could have sworn the action was because he regretted something, he walked inside. Nami felt hurt, he was hurt, and she had so many questions swarming her mind. All of this was Sanji’s doing, right? She could just ask Sanji for an explanation, and then she’d be able to explain to him it was alright. Even if Chopper had said it wasn’t just Sanji and it was up to Luffy now, maybe, if she told him that Sanji said he could tell her, then she’d be able to get the burden off of her chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made her way into her house, to be greeted by Conis and Su, who she had forgotten she had left in her home. Conis was continuously asking if she were alright, and the poor dog kept coming around and barking, a gleeful bark on seeing she wasn’t injured. Unfortunately, for Nami, since she had no one to comfort her hurt heart anymore, Conis had to leave, she forgot about something she needed to complete, in helping her father out, and she left with her dog.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami pulled out her phone, and decided to dial Sanji. She needed answers, and it appeared that that idiotic woman-loving friend of hers was the only option to getting a single step closer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, Nami-swan! I’ve never had you call me first before? What’s the occasion?” she heard him humming on the other end, immediately picking up the phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Sanji-kun,” she began, “So, I met Chopper, Luffy’s doctor, today.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, really?” Sanji replied, “I’m sure he loved you, Nami-san.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, that’s not the problem,” Nami took a deep breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Take your time,” Sanji responded, as if he had all day.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Luffy.” She began, “he said that you were the one who told him to keep something secret from me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, Nami-san,” Sanji replied, and Nami felt even more hurt, “But we told him that over a month ago, and later, after he had gotten to know you better, we told him it would be alright if he told you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So why hasn’t he, Sanji?” Nami nearly cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami-san, don’t cry!” Sanji was panicking on the other end, “did he say he could trust you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes!” Nami answered, immediately, “So why hasn’t he told me, Sanji? It hurts!” She knew saying that would probably pesture Sanji into forcing Luffy to tell her, and she didn’t quite want that, but she had been kept in the dark for far too long. Sure, she might be hiding some secrets from him, as well, but he literally is hiding his life from her. He barely ever talks about anything he does alone, or even with his friends, unless they were with her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can kick him for you,” Sanji stated, “if that will make you feel better? He shouldn’t be making you cry!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Sanji-kun, it’s fine. Is this secret dangerous?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dangerous? Not for you, Nami-swan!” Sanji replied, nearly way too fast.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, who knows this secret besides me? Maybe I can figure out why.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, Nami-san, and so do Luffy’s friends.” Sanji replied, “I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you what it is, and neither can they, not without Luffy’s approval, Nami-san.”</span>
</p><p><span>“Okay, thanks, Sanji-kun.” Nami replied, and hung up. She was now left with more questions than answers, and she was hurt even more.</span><span><br/></span> <span>Later that evening, she went to go check on the children, by quietly trespassing into her neighbor’s yard. She peeked into the cave once she got there, and was surprised to find it empty. As if that whole heartbreaking conversation hadn’t even happened in the first place. She sighed, audibly, and made the trek back to her home. It wasn’t until the next morning when she turned on the morning news she understood why.</span></p><p>
  <span>The children were now under custody of the police, where they were going to get some medical help from Dr. Vegapunk, and the culprit had vanished. Even if everything seemed to fit together like a puzzle on the news, there were obvious, and important pieces missing. One of the biggest things that raised a question in Nami’s head was that Trafalgar Law was no longer eligible for being an ambassador. From what she had known of the situation, Law was actually helping the police, but now he wasn’t. There were many questions in her head, but her neighbor was overly happy, as if he just got a raise, or something. Her questions kept coming, and she was getting rather upset about the timespan that she had known this guy, and how he had decided to keep everything from her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If it wasn’t Sanji’s fault now, did Luffy still think that he couldn’t tell her because Sanji said so. She wanted to ask him, he seemed burdened by it. It made sense now, when he’d randomly look at her, as if judging whether or not she was eligible for this big secret. She was confident that she could handle it, but she didn’t even know what it was. Nami decided to visit the Baratie, and get a better hand on what was going on. Her neighbor was a mystery, and she wanted to know why the heck that was</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So why hasn't he told her? He can't be waiting for her to ask, right? Right?</p><p>Honeslty, this wasn't the best excecuted chapter, and it totally felt a little rushed, and a lot of ideas were on my mind about what will happen and what won't happen, and I was just tryna get to the point I'm at now, which has so much more thought put into it... so... I apologize for the badly written chapter, though I have no idea how to rewrite it when the rest of the story has KIND OF played off of this, and (author's bias) has made up for it, and made it worthy of ignoring this chapter, though I can't.</p><p>Have a lovely cliff-hanger for the last minute of Christmas!<br/>(I uploaded this at 12-25-2020 at 11:58pm)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Roadtrip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>If she was honest with herself, the crazy friends of hers, really knew how to drive her up the wall. After finishing a few more charts, focusing on under the sea, she made her way down her driveway, hoping to be able to clear her mind with a long walk. It would have been an amazing effort, too, if it weren’t for the idiot who drove by, and rolled down his drivers window, as he slowed by her. She honestly wished that she never left her house. He had so many mysteries radiating from him that now every time she saw him, she couldn’t stand his idiocy. While she wanted to know what the big mystery of where he works was, she hadn’t been able to dive down on anything since the mention of Sanji’s involvement a few days ago.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>However, to her surprise, it wasn’t Luffy who was driving Thousand Sunny, it was Sanji, “Oh, hi, Sanji-kun, what are you doing in Luffy’s car?” she asked, as she made her way to the edge of the sidewalk.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi Nami-san! He asked me to drive it to Green Bit, the large garden outside of Dressrosa, apparently a friend of his needs some help.” Sanji replied, looking down at the steering wheel.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Want to join us?” she heard an innocent childlike voice say behind the blond cook.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who?” She leaned slightly into the vehicle, causing her friend to blush deeply.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah! Hello Nami-san!” A cheerful voice said, and she saw a thin man in an afro and sunglasses. She recognized him immediately as Soul King, who she remembered Luffy calling Brook. There was also a small child dressed in traditional Japanese, sitting between the two.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Green bit?” she asked, and Sanji nodded, “I haven’t been there, yet, is it nice?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It is quite a drive, I’ll be honest,” Sanji began, “but if you come, Nami-swan, it is going to be so much better!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What about Pudding?” Nami asked, crossing her arms in the frame of the window.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She wouldn’t mind,” Sanji replied, waving a hand, “besides, we’ve decided to take a break for now.” he looked down, in what looked like disappointment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, Sanji-kun.” Nami frowned, and placed a delicate hand on his shoulder, “I’ll join you, if that’s all right.” she saw a light smile appear on his face, and she made her way around the front of the car to the passenger’s door. As she leaned over to buckle herself up, she really noticed the new child in the back, she raised an eyebrow, and looked over at Sanji, “So, I know Luffy has tons of crazy friends, and all, but,” she glanced over at the boy again, “eight year olds?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, this is Momo!” Chopper announced, as he hugged the boy, with one arm, “Luffy met him, and his dad, back at-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji interrupted, “a couple days ago. He wants to meet up with a friend in Dressrosa, but his father told him to stay with us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is something bad happening in Dressrosa?” Nami asked, “Were you just there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh, yeah,” Sanji sighed, looking off to the side, “but Luffy remembered he needed his car, so I went back to get it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was skeptical about it, and looked at Brook, he was calm, and Chopper looked out the window, as if avoiding her gaze. The boy, Momo, looked confused as he looked at all three of them, but he shrugged, and kept quiet, she turned back to look at Sanji, “What happened in Dressrosa?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Typical politics,” he replied, and pulled to a stop at the stop light.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dressrosa is quite a distance from Sabaody, though.” Nami thought aloud, “Why would Luffy want you to go all the way back to his place for his car? Didn’t he drive it there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy’s an idiot, Nami, do you really need to think he’d actually be practical?” Sanji pointed out, and it diminished her suspicions. The boy was an idiot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy didn’t seem like an idiot,” Momo spoke up, “He was quite brave when he-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And look at that!” Sanji interrupted, and Nami began thinking he was doing it on purpose, “there’s a restaurant, anyone hungry?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No thank you, Sanji-kun,” Nami replied, “I ate recently.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji’s phone began to ring, and Nami decided to pick it up for him. He began to protest, saying he could handle it, but she shrugged it off with the wise excuse that he was driving. She looked down at the caller ID, and noticed it said ‘Tra-guy.’ Her curiosity peaked even more, and she couldn’t help but picking it up, “Hello-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before she could finish her sentence she was interrupted by Law’s urgent voice, “You’re gonna have to hurry to Zou, forget about Green Bit!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji could hear the urgency, though he couldn’t make out the words, “Nami, who is it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Law,” Nami replied, and lowered the phone, “How do you know Trafalgar Law, Sanji-kun?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji grabbed the phone from her, “Sorry, Nami-san, it’s important,” he said, before speaking into the phone, “Tra-guy, what’s wrong?” He nodded, “Got it.” he then hung up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What was it?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Momo, is it alright if we skip Green Bit, and head straight to Zou?” he asked, looking in the rear view mirror at Momo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, what’s the problem?” the child asked in return.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good, can’t explain now.” Sanji answered, and his eyes widened slightly as he looked in the rear view, “Nami-san, call Luffy for me!” he said, before he took a sharp turn to the side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun!” Nami yelled as she grabbed at the dashboard, “What’s wrong?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper looked behind him, before leaning over the seat, and into Sanji’s ear, “They’re following us.” he whispered into his ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Who’s following?” Nami looked behind her, “Why are we being followed?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just call Luffy!” Sanji replied, as he pressed on the gas.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun! The speed limit!” Nami panicked, but grabbed the phone, and scrolled through his contacts til he found Luffy’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi, Sanji! How are you?” Luffy’s cheerful voice sounded on the other side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, it’s me, Nami,” she began explaining, “Sanji told me to call you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, what’s the matter?” Luffy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, we’re being followed.” Nami began explaining.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” Luffy yelled into the phone and Nami brought it from her ear, and decided to put it on speaker, “by who?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Sanji yelled, “Nami’s here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right!” Luffy responded, “What is it, Sanji?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I need permission,” Sanji began, he didn’t finish though, he didn’t need to.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go all out, Sanji!” Luffy yelled into the phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks!” Sanji yelled back, and Luffy hung up. Sanji looked over at Nami, “Hold on tight!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is going on!” She yelled, as she grabbed onto the dashboard. Sanji took another sharp turn, into an alleyway, temporarily losing whoever was following them. He parked the car, and got out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami-san, put the directions to Zou on your phone, and drive them to Zou, I’ll catch up.” he said, before running off in the direction he pulled in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait! Sanji-kun!” Nami called back, but climbed over the middle console and after getting the directions to the island, she drove out of the alleyway, to make her way to Zou.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luckily, she hadn’t gotten far, before Sanji ran up to the car, while it was slowed down at a turn, and grabbed at the door of the car, opened it, and swung in. Nami glanced at him, and he was briefly exhausted, before he looked back at Momo and Chopper, and smiled. He looked at Nami, “Sorry about that, we lost them, luckily.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who were they?” Nami asked, as she drove into a port.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No one.” Sanji lied, “Nami-san, could you get a ferry for the car?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why can’t we park it here?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy’s attached to it.” Sanji replied, as she parked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like Going Merry?” Nami asked as he got out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, like Merry,” Sanji replied, “Besides, I think it’ll be easier for us with the car, anyway.” He said, and walked off into a building.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I loved Merry,” Chopper whined against the driver’s seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m assuming it was really special to Luffy.” Nami responded, “I wish I could have seen the car.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She was pretty,” Chopper hummed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If she’s anything like Mini Merry, I bet.” Nami smiled, and turned her head to face the teen, “how long have you known Luffy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I met him two years ago,” Chopper responded, and looked over at Brook.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The superstar smiled as well, “When I became friends with him, it was also two years ago, though he was quite the interesting man, Nami-san.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is with all of the rush?” Nami wanted to know.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Unfortunately, before any of the long time friends of Luffy’s could speak up, the eight year old boy did, “We have to meet up with my friend in Zou, but one of my friends was trapped in Dressrosa, so-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Brook finally cut him off, “We need to get to Zou, now,” he smiled, before laughing, “yohohoho!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay?” Nami questioned, and turned back around, Luffy’s friends were definitely weird.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji knocked on the window of the driver’s side, and Nami rolled it down for him, “Nami-san, he said to drive it over there on that dock, and they’ll bring it aboard for us. We’ll have to get out of the vehicle, though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, Sanji-kun,” Nami answered, as Brook, Chopper and Momo, climbed out of the back seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once they had settled onto the ferry, and were in the midst of arriving at the island, some people in leather jackets approached them. They didn’t look intimidating at first, but on seeing as everyone on the ferry had those leather jackets, they began to grow suspicious, Sanji especially. Nami noticed them getting a little too close to her, and she took a step behind her blond haired friend for protection. Chopper and Brook had serious expressions on their faces, once they had seen Sanji’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“May I help you, sirs?” Sanji asked, holding out a hand slightly, protecting the orange haired lady behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You seem to be taking this ferry to Zou.” A man with white hair, and black sunglasses frowned, than turned his attention to the eight year old boy, before looking back at Sanji.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” Momo squealed, and jumped toward the girl. She caught him in her arms, as he buried his face in her bosom. Brook and Sanji made an irritated face, briefly, before turning back to their offenders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, but what we do doesn’t matter to you.” Sanji replied to the man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Does it now?” he stepped forward, to put his face into Sanji’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji let out a whiff of smoke from his cigarette, clouding the intruder’s face, “Get out of our way!” he yelled, before swinging a kick at the man’s face, and sending him flying across the ferry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun!” Nami announced, surprised by the sudden kick, yet relieved at the same time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Brook and Chopper also jumped into the fray, Brook pulling out his guitar from off his back, and practically lulling the men to sleep, while the teenager whipped out black-belt-level karate. Nami clasped the boy closer to her, in hopes that if anything, she could at least save him from the attackers. A lady with bright pink hair came close to attacking her, and if it wasn’t for Chopper jumping in when he did she would have gotten hurt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His action didn’t go by unnoticed, as the white haired man with glasses, who Sanji had kicked before, came in to defend the girl. Even if the blond didn’t hurt girls, as Nami not only noticed, but remembered from her frequent visits to the Baratie, he didn’t hesitate on kicking a man, especially when that man was going to hurt a lady. Nami gasped as Chopper was pushed into her and the eight year old, and looked to see Sanji defeating the man, the last one standing from his own group.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the time they reached the island, the whole ferry was covered with unconscious men and maybe a few women in black leather outfits. The small crew climbed back into Luffy’s vehicle, and Nami drove it carefully onto the land, before the ferry left once more. Not seeing any roads, they got out of the vehicle, on the outskirts of the mighty forest, and stood under its grandeur. There was something off about it, as if something tragic had happened. Sanji began the trek into the woods, with Nami and the others trailing closely behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun,” Nami whispered, as they reached a clearing, “what is going on?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Someone attacked this place.” Sanji responded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not what I meant-” Nami began before looking at what the man in front of her was looking at.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened?” Chopper voiced.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It looks like a tornado swept through here.” Brook added.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh no.” Momo whispered under his breath, as he held onto Nami’s leg.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before them was a large clearing, where a city, though a little ways behind modern technology, was burned, and destroyed. It looked like ruins, but the smell of fire was recent. Nearly every building, save the ones on the furthest outskirts, were completely demolished, and black charcoal coated everything. Nami stepped carefully over a few walls from a home, and glanced around. Sanji adjusted the bag on his back, before letting out a puff of smoke.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hope everyone’s alright.” he whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my god!” Chopper screamed, “Are you guys okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami watched him run off somewhere, and decided to follow him, forgetting about the small boy that had stopped clinging to her only moments before. “Chopper, what is it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper knelt down beside a man, who had been affected by the flames of the fire they had failed to witness, “Are you okay? Say something!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you…” the man coughed, “with Kaido?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, we’re here to help!” Chopper yelled, “Stay with me!”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Wow! Cliff-hanger, again! Such a painful surprise!<br/>Finally seeing all the arcs from One Piece? Yep! I'm taking my own spin on them for this, if you haven't taken the hint to that, lol. Not to mention Nami still has no clue what's going on, and is being dragged into the mess! AH, I love it! Cliff-hangers, and questions, and mysteries in my stories are the best! My readers have no idea what I have in store!<br/>(p.s. the most recent chapter I finished drafting was a little out of my comfort zone... so stay tuned for the thirties!)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Reunion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>One Piece Ch. 1000 spoilers in end notes. <br/>MY GOSH I LOVED CHAPTER ONE FREAKING THOUSAND!!!<br/>Way to go Oda! Way. To. Go!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>After a couple of days on the island, Chopper, with Nami’s help, had successfully helped everyone there. They all wore animal-fur as clothing, and were highly skilled in the jungles. They had two rulers, one for the day, whose attire seemed to match that of a dog, and one for the night, who matched a cat’s. Nami, Sanji, Brook, and Chopper all stayed with the dog-ruler, Duke Dogstorm, whose given name was Inuarashi. Momo hid, too scared to show himself among them, it seemed. One of his friend’s appeared to be the reason the disaster had struck them. Sanji and the others vowed not to speak a word about it, though Nami didn’t quite understand what was going on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t long, however, before someone had come aboard the land again, and although he didn’t seem too upset about it, in fact rather pleased they helped the citizens there, his companion wasn’t all that supportive. Together, they dragged Brook and Sanji away, to talk. Sanji had told Nami to stay with Chopper, and keep Momo safe, and although she agreed, she couldn’t help but follow. Chopper at her heels.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She took cover in a nearby bush, to their conversation, and had to readjust Chopper’s hiding skills, since he covered half his face, but left his body in plain sight. Spying backwards, it looked like. They concealed themselves in the bush, and listened in, carefully to the conversation that was going on. Questions only began to rise in Nami’s head, on hearing it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because you saved my people, I have decided to let you go.” The one in lion-like attire and a pink suit, was explaining.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pekoms, what about the other thing?” The man with black hair, a cigar, and business attire huffed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, but he saved my family!” Pekoms cried, “I cannot hurt those who saved my family!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re weak!” the man in the cigar stated, before pulling out a gun, and shooting the poor man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How dare you!” Sanji exclaimed, “He was your crewmate!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Crewmate? Nami questioned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He was weak, I have no need for weak crewmates.” the man in the cigar stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He was only being nice!” Chopper yelled, rising from the bushes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chopper, no!” Nami nearly yelled, grabbing onto his hand, to hide him again, although it was too late, for both of them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami-san! Chopper-san!” Brook announced, on seeing the two, much to Sanji’s dismay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, so you all are here, that benefits me.” the man stated, before members of what looked like his possy came out of the concealment of the trees to greet them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few set up a table, as the man sat down at it, and covered it with a tablecloth. It seemed kind of strange, Nami reasoned, but before she could say anything, her, Chopper, and Brook were all tied up, and held down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami-san!” Sanji called, on seeing their position, “Let them go!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun!” Nami called.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji.” the man with the cigar stated, folding his hands on the table, as one of his minions pushed Sanji in a chair at the other end.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let them go, Beige.” Sanji replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This isn’t about before,” Beige shook his head, his cigar, still resting in his mouth, “I have come here to find you, with an invitation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I refuse!” Sanji replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, but it involves your precious girlfriend, Pudding.” Beige smirked, though Sanji wasn’t reacting, he then pulled out the invitation and read it, “You are formally invited to the wedding of Charlotte Pudding and Vinsmoke Sanji,” he began, then looked up, “A union between Big Mom and the Vinsmokes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I told you, I refuse!” Sanji stated, instantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, but if you don’t,” Beige motioned to the man behind Sanji, and he whispered in the blond’s ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami couldn’t see it, but Sanji’s reaction suddenly changed, “Give me a note,” he stated. After he scribbled something on it, he got up, and made his way to Brook, Nami, and Chopper, “I’m sorry,” he murmured, “give this to Luffy.” he slid the paper into the ropes holding Nami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Sanji-kun! You still haven’t answered me, what’s going on?” Nami panicked, his face was so stern.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tell him I’ll be back,” Sanji smiled, before kicking the people behind the trio, and picking them up. He tossed them aside, and they landed just under the coverage of the trees. “I’ll come with you,” she heard him say, “just don’t harm them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami scrambled to her feet, and started to run after them, though they were already gathering the things and leaving, Sanji was already on the other side of the clearing, following after Beige, so his name was, “Wait! Sanji-kun!” She cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned to face her, a soft smile evident on his face, before the other members of Beige’s gang concealed her view of him, and they disappeared in the trees. He was gone. She collapsed onto the ground, by the way things sounded, it appeared as if she was never going to see him again. She knew he said he’d be back, but the way he smiled at her, was as if he believed he wouldn’t be. Sanji was the first male friend she had met upon coming to Sabaody. Before then, she had suffered under the abuse of Arlong, and his friends. That boy who saved her didn’t stick around long enough for her to become his friend, even though he said so. She desperately had wanted to, but she also needed to leave that place. Now her first male friend from Sabaody might never see her again, and it hurts. Sure, she might have more friends now, like Luffy, but she never wanted to lose one of her trusted friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her and the two of Luffy’s friends that were there slowly made their way back, after struggling out of the ropes. They took Pekoms with them, since he was still alive, and friends with the citizens there. Nami was hurt, she didn’t know why, but she felt like she betrayed Luffy. Brook had to stay away from some of the people, since they had a crazy fascination with his afro, and Chopper decided to continue with treating the people who were hurt. They seemed to have a bigger faith in her long time friend than she had, unless it was something deeper that they had.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Since the ferry wasn’t going to come unless someone wanted to get there, she found out, she decided to become comfortable there. She still had her orange trees to worry about back home, but she was certain they’d be fine, for a couple days. At first, she’ll admit, she tried to get off the island, but Chopper and Brook reassured her that Luffy was going to come to the island, and she could get off then.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chopper,” she decided to ask, “I feel like I have a right to know what’s going on. I was kind of dragged into this mess, after all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper raised his head from the patient he’d been working on, “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you what Luffy hasn’t told you.” he then looked at her with his large round eyes, “What do you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked at him, serious, “I know that Luffy’s an idiot, and though he can’t lie, he sure knows how to keep the secret. I know that Sanji wouldn’t keep something from me unless it was dangerous, and from the looks of things, although he said it wasn’t, it sure looks dangerous.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper meekly smiled, “Maybe, but it’s fun.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How so?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper looked at her with a smile, like he didn’t need to answer the question, and she should already know the answer, but he answered anyway, in one word, “Luffy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami nodded, and relaxed herself onto the bed she was laying on, the comforter was made with sheep’s wool. She gazed up at the ceiling, before slowly closing her eyes. That would make sense, sure the guy was an idiot, but he still knew how to somehow bring a smile to her face. It was comforting to know he had that much of an influence on her. She curled herself up to the side, and slowly drifted off to sleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She would have continued sleeping, if it weren’t for Chopper’s impatient pleaing that woke her up, “What, Chopper?” she asked, as she raised her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy’s here!” he cheered, and ran out of the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy was here, already? She questioned, though she did realize it had already been a few days that she had been on the island without Sanji, let alone around a week before he left. Without thinking, she quickly clambered out of the bed, in hopes of seeing the idiot she couldn’t stop thinking about. She ran out of the room, and looked down, they were staying in treehouses in the deepest parts of the forest. She glanced down, and could see a small gathering by the front of the fort, and guessing that was where he was, she made her way down the staircase.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At the bottom, she was greeted by the citizens there, and they wrapped her in hugs, which she returned, after all, that was just there way of greeting someone. After getting out of their embrace, she could see a small collection of people consisting of Luffy’s friends Usopp, Franky, and Zoro, Law and surprisingly Robin, and of course her neighbor, Luffy. He had a big smile on his face, as Chopper and her came running. She was surprised Brook wasn’t with them, but he had probably been swamped by the people that were passionate about his hair. Chopper nearly jumped into Usopp’s arms, in a happy reunion, and she ran straight to Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi! Luffy!” she called.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi Nami!” He called back, “Now that you're here, Momo, Brook and Sanji are probably all okay, too!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s smile faded softly, he just had to bring up Sanji, didn’t he. In order to hide her sudden tears, and embrace his cute arrival, she leaped into his arms. She was half-surprised he hugged her back, but she didn’t dwell on it, as she began weeping against his red cardigan, “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, and she could hear his laughter fade, his embrace on her suddenly tighten a little, as if comforting, “Sanji is…” she trailed off.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sanji is...? What! What is Sanji! Please tell me! Why did you do this to me! I need to know! Screw these cliff-hangers! I hate them! Why add these into the story! Why author! Why! Oh..........wait. That's me.<br/>But in all honesty, this is basically what I was thinking when I watched that episode of the anime, because sue me, I watched the anime first. I know, what a loser. But, hey, I'm caught up on the manga now, and MY GOSH I loved, and I mean Loved, with a capital L. L. O. V. E. D. chaptedr one freaking thousand! My gosh! (oh yeah, spoiler warning) Luffy was freaking awesome! Punching Kaido in the face like that! Surprising Big Mom! Where Ace got the vivre card for Luffy! The profecies that Oden had written that Yamato adresses! Luffy standing up to both of the present yonko and claiming right to their faces that he is gonna surpass them! (MAJOR SPOILER WARNING... I guess.)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Arrival</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So he’s okay, then?” Luffy asked, to clarify. They were currently sitting together in a lounge, Brook had finally joined them, and Nami was looking down at her hands as her friend Robin, and all of Luffy’s friends, except Sanji, were looking at her. Luffy was the only one that wasn’t looking at her, but at the slip of paper that Sanji had given her.</p><p>“No, he’s not!” Nami exclaimed, raising her head, finally to stare into the black haired man’s eyes.</p><p>“It says he’s fine!” Luffy replied, “so he’s fine!”</p><p>Nami was shaking, there was so much going on that she didn’t know about, she was on another island, far away from the safety of her orange trees, Robin was here, which confused her. It felt like she was in a book, she was in some story, that it wasn’t true, that she’d wake up at any moment, and find that it was all just some dream. To her surprise, Robin placed a soft hand on her shoulder, comforting her.</p><p>“It’s not your fault, Nami.” Robin nearly whispered in her ear, “Sanji made his decision, he did what he had to.”</p><p>Nami looked over at her, with a slight confused expression on her face, “I… I think…”</p><p>Robin smiled, “Let’s just enjoy that you’re safe, for now.”</p><p>“Alright!” Luffy cheered, “Let’s have a party!”</p><p>Zoro got up from his seat, and made his way over to him, before grabbing the collar of his shirt, and dragging him out of the room. Usopp watched, shaking his head, then turned to Nami, “So what have you guys been doing?”</p><p>Nami’s eyes widened, and she shook her head slightly, “That’s what I would want to ask you.”</p><p>Usopp tilted his head confused, then he realized, “Oh, well, there was this big dragon that had made its way onto the shore, and I, in my awesome wonders, went up to-”</p><p>“Nevermind.” Nami waved him off, before turning to the dark haired woman beside her, “What are you doing here?”</p><p>Robin smiled, “Well, you know Zoro.”</p><p>Nami couldn’t really argue, but it didn’t seem like she was just coming because of her boyfriend, if they were official. She glanced around the room to look for the green haired man, only to find his seat vacant. She also noticed Luffy was gone as well, and remembered they had left just a few minutes prior.</p><p>“Enough! Enough!” Brook exclaimed, “It’s real, alright!” he was trying to get away from prying hands, to his luscious afro.</p><p>Chopper arose from his chair that he was sitting on, “I’m gonna go check on Duke Dogstorm, does anyone want to join me?” he asked.</p><p>“Yes, I’ll come with you.” A woman who wore dog-like attire stated, standing.</p><p>“I’d like to come with you, Chopper.” Nami also stated, and joined the teen as he made his way out. She passed Luffy and Zoro as they were conversing about something.</p><p>“Not yet, Zoro, I told you.” Luffy replied, with a huff, then noticed Nami and his eyes locked on hers, and she looked away.</p><p>“You can’t hide it forever.” Zoro replied, then looked to where the black haired man was looking, “Oi, Robin, where are you guys going?”</p><p>“Duke Dogstorm.” Robin replied, with a smile.</p><p>“Mind if we join you?” Zoro asked.</p><p>“Not at all.”</p><p>Nami tried to keep her eyes forward, and not pay attention to how everyone was now following Wanda, the woman in dog-like attire, to the Duke’s chambers. However, when Luffy passed her in a fit of giggles she was slightly pleased she wasn’t walking alone. He turned around to face her, now walking backwards.</p><p>“Hey, Nami, what are you doing here? And where’s Momo?” he asked, his hands behind his head, and underneath the shade of his straw hat.</p><p>“Sanji pulled me into your car, and I ended up tagging along for the ride.” Nami explained, “Momo’s hiding in his room.”</p><p>“I see,” Luffy nodded, then turned around, so he was walking forwards again.</p><p>“Hey, Luffy-san,” she heard Brook’s voice, “don’t mention Momo and his friends around here.”</p><p>Luffy glanced back, “Why?”</p><p>“Well it seems that the reason it was in shambles when you came was due to his friends, the people of his country.” Brook whispered into Luffy’s left ear.</p><p>“Oh, okay, so don’t mention Wa-” Luffy began saying before he was tackled to the ground by Usopp.</p><p>“No, don’t say that!” he nearly yelled.</p><p>“Is everything alright?” Wanda asked, turning around.</p><p>“What, yeah, we’re just having a great time!” Usopp smiled, as he hugged the less-than-willing Luffy.</p><p>After they had begun their trek to the chambers of the Duke, Nami tapped Luffy on the shoulder, and he turned around to face her. She allowed the others to pass them, as she had gone to the chamber before with Chopper, “Hey, Luffy,” she began.</p><p>“Yes?” he asked, tilting his head for her to continue.</p><p>“Can you tell me what’s going on?” She raised her eyes to look into his. They were taken aback, like he wasn’t expecting her to ask such an important question.</p><p>He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again, and lowered his eyes.</p><p>“Look, I get it if I’m in the way, but, I was dragged into this, so I feel like I have the right to know. Who was chasing us on the way here? Why come here? Why did you send Sanji all the way back to your place to get your car? What-” Nami was cut off.</p><p>“All the way back to my place?” Luffy tilted his head, “What are you talking about?”</p><p>“What?” Nami asked, “But Sanji said that you told him to go back to get your car.”</p><p>“No, I never told him that.” Luffy responded, “But I’m glad he did, or else you guys wouldn’t have made it here!” his cheeks turned up in a smile, as if he genuinely cared about her.</p><p>Nami didn’t really know what to say after that, it wasn’t like there weren’t questions on her mind, because there were more than she could count in fact. But it was his smile, his blind trust in Sanji, that made her want to rethink her decision of asking him to explain. He looked at her confused, as if expecting her to speak, and when she didn’t he turned to catch up with the others. She followed behind him, correcting him everytime he made a wrong turn, but saying nothing otherwise. They finally reached the room, where Dogstorm was just waking up.</p><p>“Dogstorm-sama!” Wanda cried, and hugged the tall, virile man. He hugged her back with one arm, as his other was under Chopper’s hands, since an I V was attached.</p><p>“Can you explain what happened to this place?” Robin asked, then sat down, “Sorry for asking when you just woke up, but it sure looked like a disaster had struck, I feared my friends were dead, and burned to bits.”</p><p>“Robin, you’re so dark,” Nami murmured, but Luffy heard her, as he had been right next to her.</p><p>“But that’s just Robin,” he giggled.</p><p>“It’s no problem,” Dogstorm replied, and began to tell them what had happened.</p><p>They were people from Kaido’s land, and army, looking for someone from Wano Kuni. People who had escaped, or left, without the permission to do so. There were four of them that they were looking for. They had believed that one of them was hiding Zou, but they had continuously told them that wasn’t true, though it wasn’t believed. They had battled them for ten days straight, switching out with Master Cat Viper, who commanded the armies of the night. They had almost had them, too, but then they had to release an atomic weapon that not only burned everything, but released a radiation that slowed their own movements. That was when they began to lose, having his own leg cut off in the process, Dogstorm still stuck to his word, and continued to tell them that the man they were looking for wasn’t there. Cat Viper had lost his left arm for the same thing. Then, finally they had left, though they were commanding the only ferry that ever made the journey to the island of Zou. Then finally, two days later, Sanji and his group of people had come and saved them, and helped them regain their strength.</p><p>However, after telling the story, Duke Dogstorm had fallen asleep, on habit. Wanda explained to the newcomers that they sleep in twelve hour shifts, never failing to do so, either. She then asked if they wanted to see Master Cat Viper, which Luffy was way too overly excited to do so.</p><p>“Does he wear cat clothes? Does he have ears? Does he have a tail?” Luffy kept asking, as they rode some of the wild animals native to the island to the other side, where Cat Viper lives.</p><p>“I’m not at all sure, but I did write a song on him! Yohohoho!” Brook cheered.</p><p>“Oooh! Really! Thanks Brook! Can we hear it?” Luffy asked, looking over to the skinny man behind Carrot, a young lady with bunny-like attire, and habits. Brook had decided to join her on her pet, instead of Wanda, because she didn’t have a fettice with his hair.</p><p>“Absolutely!” Brook responded, and began to play a cheerful, yet slow song about the master of the night on Zou.</p><p>By the time the song had finished, they had reached the abode of the great Master Cat Viper, and Wanda and Carrot made their way to the door to ask permission to enter. Luffy hopped off the animal, and waited for his friends to join him. After they were all together, Chopper followed Wanda and Carrot inside. He was quite upset though when he finally walked through the door, and the black-haired contortionist wasn’t helping in the matter at all.</p><p>Cat Viper, also known as Nekomamushi, had taken off his bandages, and jumped and laughed around as if he was a young child. “Hello! You must be Luffy!” he called, and jumped over to the one in question.</p><p>“Yo!” Luffy responded, and accepted the embrace from the much larger man. His cat-like attire made him look all the more cuddly, than fierce.</p><p>“Let’s have a party!” Cat Viper cried, on releasing Luffy to the ground.</p><p>“Yeah!” Luffy cheered with him.</p><p>Chopper however was upset, the young teen made his way over to the goofy adults and sat Cat Viper back down on the bed, and Luffy on a window seat. Luffy pouted, and crossed his arms, however, it hadn’t lasted long, as he noticed someone in the next room, when he looked through the window pane. “Ah, that’s that guy from Fisherman Island!”</p><p>“Fishman Island, Luffy,” Usopp corrected, before slapping a hand over both of their mouths, when Nami eyed him.</p><p>Luffy pulled his friend’s hand off his mouth, “What was his name again?” he tilted his head in confusion.</p><p>Nami looked through the pane he was looking through, and saw the man he was talking about, “You mean Pekoms, right?”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah, him!” Luffy replied, snapping his fingers, though he failed at making a sound, at Nami, “What’s he doing here?”</p><p>“He tried to vouch for us, when Sanji was here.” Nami replied, with a slight frown.</p><p>“Oh! Really?” Luffy looked back through the pane, “So he’s a nice guy, after all.” he smiled and giggled.</p><p>She had to admit it, hearing that innocent laugh, and seeing his precious smile right next to her, made her know she loved him. She gripped her sides, to force herself from hugging his attractive self. Usopp noticed, and nudged her slightly, as if telling her that he had known all along.</p><p>“Hey, Luffy!” Usopp told the man beside her, his gaze locked with his friend’s.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“You think we can still have a party? I mean we just had one.”</p><p>“What!” Luffy jumped to his feet, “Yes, we can still have a party. You can’t have too many parties, besides…” He trailed off and his eyes gazed off into space, “I bet they have really good meat.”</p><p>“Always thinking with your stomach.” Usopp shook his head, and turned to Nami, “Maybe that’s how you have him wrapped around your finger.”</p><p>“What?” Nami asked, holding her hands out in defense, “I don’t have him wrapped around my finger.”</p><p>“Okay…” Usopp raised an eyebrow, and then leaned over and poked the daydreaming young adult. Successfully getting his black haired friend out of his zone, the boy turned to face him, and he asked, “Luffy, did Nami give you anything when you first met her?”</p><p>Luffy looked at him, like he was an idiot to forget, “Usopp how could you forget, are you stupid?”</p><p>“Don’t call me stupid, stupid!” Usopp yelled, standing up so he could hit his friend on the head.</p><p>“Of course Nami gave me cookies, and they were really good.” He folded his arms and nodded, before he grabbed his head, from his friend’s loving gesture, “Ow.”</p><p>Usopp turned to Nami, “See.”</p><p>Nami frowned, “That doesn’t prove anything.”</p><p>“Oi Nami!” Luffy called, even though he was right next to her.</p><p>“Luffy! Don’t yell in my ear!” She yelled back turning to face him.</p><p>“You gonna make more of those cookies?” His mouth was practically watering, “Or that juice?”</p><p>She didn’t want to look at Usopp to see his smug expression that she knew he had on, “Not now, Luffy, I don’t have my oranges.” Even if she did admit to herself that she loved him, it wasn’t like she was going to admit it to his idiotic friends, let alone himself. She did however, feel power to her, now that she knew, even though she already had, that this idiotic neighbor of hers would do absolutely anything for food, it seemed like.</p><p>After Chopper finished the checkup on Nekomamushi, Cat Viper, the people there started preparing for a feast, a festival, a party, as Luffy would call it. She watched in awe, as they gathered around, cooking tons of meals, and starting fires, just to suit their guest’s wants. She couldn’t help but giggle every once in a while when she noticed Luffy’s beaming gaze, as he tried to make his way to where all the food was being prepared. Usopp and Chopper kept trying to hold him back, but the boy just slowly dragged them along with him.</p><p>“Luffy.” Zoro voiced, causing the man in question to turn his head around, “If you eat all the food now, you won’t have any at the party.”</p><p>“What!” Luffy exclaimed, “Nami, is that true?”</p><p>Nami held in her laughter, on seeing his shocked expression looking at her for clarification, “Yes, Luffy.”</p><p>“Then we’ll have to wait for the party then.” Luffy huffed, and crossed his arms, before cross-legged on the ground.</p><p>Usopp stood and made his way over to the orange haired twenty-two year old, “You really should hang out with us more often.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’d absolutely love to, Usopp,” Nami began before glancing over at the idiotic neighbor of hers, “but someone keeps disappearing from his house.” she looked back over to the long nosed best friend, “you don’t happen to know the reason, do you?”</p><p>“Hehe,” Usopp smirked, rubbing the bottom of his nose, “Indeed, the great and mighty captain  Usopp knows where he goes. However, I must say,” he frowned, “even I cannot share those deep and dark secrets of my subordinate.”</p><p>“Oi!” Luffy jumped to his feet and made his way over to his friend, “I’m the captain!”</p><p>Nami’s eyes widened.</p><p>Usopp slammed his hand over his friend’s mouth, “Shhh! Shhh!”</p><p>Luffy’s eyebrows didn’t soften though, he pulled his friend’s hand off his mouth, “But I’m the captain, Usopp.”</p><p>Seeing how trying to just shut the boy up wasn’t working, he stared into his friend’s eyes before gesturing with his own to the orange haired stowaway on their journey to the island, Zou. Luffy still didn’t get the idea, as his expression didn’t soften, so the dark haired best friend of his grabbed him by the shoulder and began dragging him away, as if to explain. Nami, however, didn’t fail to notice how the boy said it twice, and she made her way over to Zoro, who looked like he might have a better idea.</p><p>“Hey.” She slurred, trying to catch the green haired man’s attention.</p><p>Zoro looked up at her from his relaxed position, “Hi, witch.”</p><p>“I’m not a witch!” She yelled at him, before sitting down next to him, “So Luffy…”</p><p>“What about him?” Zoro asked, closing his eye, again.</p><p>“He called himself the captain, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?” She asked, calmly, as if she didn’t care either way.</p><p>Zoro opened his eye again, and furrowed his brows, “That idiot,” he mumbled before saying, “yeah, he’s an idiot, with an idiotic imagination.” He closed his eyes, wanting to get more rest, it seemed, before the party began.</p><p>Nami pouted, she had hoped to get a little bit more information out of him than that. She looked over at the idiot she had fallen for, his eyes were wide as Usopp was explaining something to him, and she had to remind herself that he was twenty-one, living on his own, and had a great paying job, because he literally looked like a naive high school student.</p><p>After another good half hour, all of the preparations were complete, and they were all gathered around for the party. Nami wasn’t surprised by a certain idiot’s party manners, and how they failed to differ from his regular actions. Zoro was gulping down sake, and alcohol, mug after mug, and Usopp appeared to be telling everyone about some amazing thing that he was the great leader of. Chopper was in awe of it, though Nami could tell it was a total lie, and Brook was entertaining everyone with his music. Franky was dancing around with Luffy, or Luffy was laughing at Franky’s dance, and Robin was giggling softly to herself on watching it all.</p><p>Nami smiled, and looked back over to Luffy, he was being a total idiot, but he had the most energetic, and happy smile on his face.</p><p>“You seem to have an affection for him.” she heard beside her, and looked over to see Wanda.</p><p>“I suppose, he’s my neighbor, and friend after all.” Nami reasoned.</p><p>“He’s quite enjoyable, isn’t he?” Wanda smiled, before taking a sip of her drink and relaxing back onto her hands.</p><p>The party lasted much longer than Nami had anticipated, though soon she found herself waking up to the sound of an explosion, and she glanced around her. She sat up, and straightened out her dress, looking over, she saw Luffy sprawled out on the ground still sleeping, while his friends, and Robin, started to get up, also from the sound of the explosion, Zoro excluded. Robin made her way over to the sleeping swordsman, and began a gentle attempt to wake him up. Nami heard another explosion, and rushed over to Luffy.</p><p>“Luffy,” she whispered, pushing against his shoulder as he slept. He looked so peaceful, she hated having to wake him up. “Luffy,” she said a little louder, and he still didn’t wake up. She grabbed his shoulders, and brought him up to a sitting position, but his head fell backwards, in comfortable sleep, “Luffy!” she yelled, shaking him.</p><p>“Five more minutes…” he mumbled, before snoozing off again, and muttering something incoherent about meat.</p><p>“Luffy! We have to get out of here!” Nami yelled at him, shaking him some more.</p><p>Luffy’s eyes fluttered open, as he brought his head up, “Good morning, Nami.” he mumbled, and before his head could fall over again, in sleep, Nami shook him again.</p><p>“Luffy! Someone is attacking the place, we have to get out of here!”</p><p>Suddenly, as if a wave of energy hit the guy, he jerked his eyes open and yelled in Nami’s face, “Sanji!”</p><p>“What?” Nami asked, backing her face away, slightly and blinking.</p><p>“Sanji, we have to go save Sanji!” Luffy repeated, reaching his hands up to grab her shoulders, “I have to go save Sanji!”</p><p>“You?” Nami asked, before she remembered the explosions that were happening.</p><p>“I’m going alone, with the lion-guy.” Luffy replied, as Nami began to voice what was going on.</p><p>“We don’t have time for that right now, Luffy, we have to get out of here. Someone is attacking the place!” She yelled at him.</p><p>“What?” Luffy asked, “Attacking?” He glanced around, and noticed everyone in a panic, “Is someone attacking the island?”</p><p>“It appears like that, Luffy!” Nami repeated, and watched as all of Luffy’s friends, Robin included, made their way to where the commotion was happening.</p><p>“Momo’s gone!” Chopper yelled, “I think he said something about his friends getting here!” he ran off in the direction of the commotion, “Come on, Luffy!”</p><p>“Wait, no!” Nami called, still holding onto Luffy’s shoulders, “Why are you guys heading that way? We should get off! This island isn’t safe anymore!”</p><p>Luffy looked over at her, before grasping his ears, and screaming. Chopper stopped running and looked back at his first friend, Nami held onto Luffy’s shoulders, asking him what was wrong. The one in pain, however, kept shaking his head, and screaming.</p><p>“Luffy, what’s wrong? Do your ears hurt?” Chopper asked, trying to pry the boy’s fingers off his ears.</p><p>“Stop! What is it?” Luffy cried out, “What do you want?”</p><p>“Luffy, who are you talking to?” Nami asked, as Luffy tried struggling away from her grip.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You know what's awesome?<br/>ONE PIECE REACHING 1000 CHAPTERS!!!<br/>And I find that absolutely fabulous! Way To Go ODA-Sensei!!!<br/>You know what's sad?<br/>The chapter I'm currently writing. I don't know why, but I can be extremely expressive with how many tears are running down someone's face. And it hurts me! It's like I'm watching the episode of One Piece again that the scene takes place it, and it hurts. I'm hurting. The poor guy! (Oops, I guess that's a little bit of a spoiler for future chapters... I mean, it's not like you don't know that I'm X amount of chapters ahead.<br/>ANYWAY<br/>As always, enjoy the beautiful cliff-hanger that I left you! I have an awestruck joy in leaving you guys hanging! The pain! The pain!</p><p>Also, low-key, tell me why I can write the painful scenes so much easier than the fluffy cute stuff. Like the fluffy stuff makes me cringe to write, but the painful stuff bears into my soul as my fingers are flying across the keyboard...<br/>SO, why not you express your thoughts on the chapter! That would mean ever so much! Thank You! Thank You! Love ya! Mwah!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0024"><h2>24. Leaving</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Chopper was panicking, and Nami didn't know what to do. Ever since she met the teen, she could tell that he was a prodigy, and probably better than most doctors in the world. Luffy was in pain, and he continuously was grabbing at his ears, asking whatever was talking to him what it wanted, but obviously getting no response. They heard another scream, and looked to see Momo, with his three friends, though Nami hadn't met them yet, also screaming at grabbing at his ears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Momo!" Luffy called to the small boy, "He'll listen to you!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Luffy, what's wrong?" Nami asked, holding the black haired man child's shoulders, comfortingly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Momo asked, slightly above what a whisper would be.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"He won't listen to me, but he'll listen to you!" Luffy called again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What in the world are you talking about?" Nami asked, "Are you okay, Luffy?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy didn't answer, and continued to grab his ears, while she couldn't see them herself, she could see them becoming red.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Momo suddenly called out, "Save this island! Please!"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The ground began to shake, and Nami and Luffy tumbled backwards, onto their backs. Nami looked up, to see a giant elephant, emerging from the woods and making its way to where the commotion was. His stomping through the island created a near earthquake, and Nami held on to her only support, as he sat up, on seeing the giant creature.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Zunisha!” Carrot yelled on seeing the giant elephant.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s it! That’s the voice I heard!” Luffy cried, pointing at the creature, and Nami glanced up at him, noticing his ears were bleeding.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chopper!” She cried, and glanced around, the small teen was nowhere in sight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You could hear it?” Carrot asked, jumping over to the black haired man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, couldn’t you?” Luffy asked, and tilted his head, “Nami, you heard it, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy,” Nami responded, looking up into his eyes, before they drifted over to his ears, “Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Yeah, I’m fine,” He made a confused face at her, before repeating his question, “You heard it, right Nami?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I didn’t, I didn’t hear anything, Luffy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Luffy’s eyes went wide, “But Momo…” he shook his head, and leaned closer to the orange haired girl beside him, “Momo heard it, so you had to have heard it Nami!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t, I couldn’t. Zunisha, right?” Nami was concerned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, the elephant, you heard it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, are you okay?” she reached to touch his ear, but he must have misunderstood her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, I’m not crazy,” he said, and stood up, effectively getting his head out of her reach, “I’ve gotta go save Sanji, anyway.” he began to walk away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, Luffy!” Nami cried, standing and grabbing his shoulders, yanking him backwards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked down at his face, as she held his chin with her to hands. His straw hat that had been resting on top of his head was now pressed into her bosom, the only thing separating them from his black hair. He looked slightly annoyed at the gesture, and it made her slightly disappointed, but she didn’t have time to think about that now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, let go!” he mumbled, though not really understandable as she held his mouth shut, unintentionally.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m coming with you, Luffy.” She stated, as she felt something wet against her forearms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Nami, I said I was going alone.” He frowned at her, though not effectively.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami sighed, “Whether you like it or not, I’m coming. I was dragged to this island, and so might as well be dragged to the next. Besides, Sanji is my friend, too, and I need to figure out what the heck is going on.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy squirmed himself free from her grasp, “Fine, you can come. I’ve gotta tell you something, anyways.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I come, too!” Chopper said, jumping onto Luffy’s back, much to Nami’s surprise, she hadn’t been able to find him earlier.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I was there when he was taken, I should come as well, Luffy-san.” Brook announced, next to Nami, as she glanced down at the red liquid that was now on her arms, before up at Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, fine, fine!” Luffy gave up, throwing his hands in the air, “But no one else!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After the commotion had stopped, and a jaguar-fitted man in his forties came up to Luffy, Chopper actually got a good look at Luffy’s ears. Luffy hung his head, on not being able to say no to one more person, though he decided he was putting his foot down here.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Chopper cried, and the man called turned to face him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s the matter, Chopper?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Your ears!” Chopper was crying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami turned to look at the crying teen, and back to Luffy’s ears, the blood had dried, and she had forgotten that some of it had gotten on her arms. She rubbed the dried blood off of her, and grabbed Luffy’s head, pulling him backwards, gently, to lay down, “Luffy, your ears were bleeding.” she said sitting beside him, and looking down at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know.” Luffy replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You knew?” Chopper and Nami said simultaneously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, see?” he held the palm of his hand up to Nami, and the blood was also dried on it, as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How much were you bleeding?” Chopper cried, grabbing his backpack from behind his back, which his medical supplies were in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t know,” Luffy shrugged.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You can still hear, perfectly fine, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, why?” Luffy tilted his head, against the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t you feel any pain?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Eh?” Luffy sat up, quickly, but was stopped by the girl beside him, and forced back down, “Nami, I’m fine. This isn’t the first time this has happened.” he argued.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know that, Luffy,” Chopper replied, “But do you know how we can stop this from happening?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tell them to stop talking to me,” Luffy shrugged, and folded his hands behind his head, as Chopper took care of his ears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who are you talking about, Luffy?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper looked up at her, “Oh, you weren’t there when we met Raleigh.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Raleigh?” Nami reaffirmed, then looked at Luffy, “Is that the guy you wanted to see at the pool?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! He’s awesome.” Luffy giggled, his smile widening.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, stay still.” Chopper mumbled, and motioned for Nami to turn the guy’s head so he could get a better angle on his right ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, Chopper, what was the thing Raleigh talked about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, so Luffy can hear some things people can’t hear, there was only one other person that can hear it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like really high frequencies?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep, I think it’s probably around 20,000 hertz, or higher.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But that’s practically above an audible range!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Chopper mumbled, “Unfortunately, it appears it still hurts him, even if he can’t feel it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He can’t feel the pain?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Luffy has an extremely high pain tolerance.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop talking like I’m not here.” Luffy pouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry, Luffy.” Nami responded, and the two went silent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t until they had gotten into Luffy’s car, which Nami noticed now had an extra row of seats she hadn’t seen before, thanks to Franky’s quick upgrade, that she decided to bring up the sound incident. Luffy had been totally fine, even though his ears were bleeding, heck, she even noticed that Momo’s ears were bleeding, and Chopper took care of that, too. Nami took the liberty of driving the car, and Luffy pouted as he sat in the passenger seat. Pedro, the jaguar-fitted citizen, Chopper, and Brook sat in the middle row, respectively, and Pekoms was laid down in the back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, about you hearing voices-” Nami began but was cut off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami-san, we should probably get going if we want to stop the wedding at all.” Brook said near her ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, right, um Luffy?” Nami replied, slightly upset she was interrupted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy’s slouching figure in the passenger seat looked over at her, his pout even more prominent than when he first got in. He looked absolutely adorable, and she wanted to squeeze his puffed cheeks, “Hmm?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where are we going, again?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy sat up, and rolled down the window, “Oi, Robin!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The black haired woman turned, and walked over to the car, “Luffy, you’re going to miss the ferry to get back to the mainland.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where was it again?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Robin smiled, and rested a hand on the roof of his car, “You mean Tottoland?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, that!” Luffy smiled, and pointed a finger at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, you must want to get to the capital, and you’ll have to get your car on another boat if you want to take it with you, but… I’m sure Nami can figure it out.” Robin smiled, and winked at the orange haired woman in the vehicle, “She’s great at navigation.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ooh! Really!” Luffy smiled, his eyes glowing, and turned to face Nami. The sparkle in his eyes did not disappear as he waited for her response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I draw maps, remember?” Nami smiled, yet slightly annoyed by Robin’s response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy turned back to Robin, “Thanks Robin!” he turned to his driver, “Full speed to Toddler Land, Nami!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tottoland.” Nami corrected, as she typed it into the gps app on her phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah,” Luffy waved his hand in dismissal, “we still gotta get there to save Sanji.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was regretting going with Luffy, as soon as they reached the mainland, and started driving, he broke out into a childish song, that he seemed to be making up as he went along. Brook cheered him on, and Chopper laughed. Pedro had asked for the sunroof to be opened, and he stood up, his head peering out of it. Luffy had also unbuckled, and was leaning over the passenger seat giggling along as he sang the song, looking back at everyone behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, sit down,” Nami stated, as she tried to make his butt make contact with the red cushion of the seat, as she drove.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy had paused his song for the time being, “Brook, what songs are you gonna release soon?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, you see, Luffy-san, I have to wait for a little more action before I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy interrupted him with a yell, “Nami! You’re pulling down my pants!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then sit back in your seat!” Nami scolded, as she brought her hand back up to the wheel, a bright blush on her cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Luffy responded, as he tightened the yellow sash around his waist, as if it was doing something to keep his shorts up. He turned back to Brook, “Yeah?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Most of my inspiration comes from our time together, so I need a little more time with you all before I release a new song.” the thin man stated, “Yohohoho!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy slumped over the seat, “But I’ve listened to your other songs too many times!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You guys are all so lively!” they all heard a voice, and Nami pulled the car over to the side of the road.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy had perked up on the seat, Pedro had slumped back into the car, Chopper tried hiding behind Brook, who was trying to hide himself, saying things like it was a ghost. If Pekoms had done anything, no one saw it, since he was practically in a full body cast. After she had pulled to a stop, Nami looked over her seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A pale blond girl, with cute white bunny-ear-headband resting on her head, emerged from behind the back seat, where Pekoms lay, and she squeezed herself over, to sit next to the injured man. They all recognized her as Carrot, one of the girls that had helped lead the way to Master Cat Viper. Pedro was the first person to react to her accompaniment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Carrot! What are you doing here?” He yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Carrot tilted her head, “I wanted to come with them! Outside of the island its a wonderful place, isn’t it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This isn’t a game!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know! I brought myself lunch, and a snack!” she replied, pulling out a few carrots.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Looks good.” Luffy stated, though it went unnoticed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How long do you think we’ll be gone for?” Pedro asked, rubbing his temple.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A day, or so…” Carrot replied, putting a delicate finger to her chin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’ll take a week just to get to Tottoland, and another day to get to the capital.” Nami stated, glancing at the gps.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“These are good.” Luffy smiled, as he chomped down on one of the snacks Carrot brought with her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! That’s my carrot!” she yelled, reaching over the seat, and grabbing at his ears.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oi! Let go! That hurts! You’re gonna rip them off!” Luffy yelled back as he struggled to stay in his seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, just pat her head.” Pedro stated, “She just really likes her carrots.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy brought one of the hands still holding him to the chair, and patted the blond girl’s head, “I’m sorry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, okay! I forgive you!” Carrot replied, and sat back into her seat, next to Pekoms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy collapsed back into his seat, and mumbled, “I thought I was gonna die.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why’d you grab her snack anyway?” Nami asked, as she faced forward, and turned the blinker on to get back onto the main road.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy lazily buckled himself back up, “I’m hungry…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, then why don’t we stop somewhere to eat?” Nami asked, moving the car back onto the road, and continuing their journey, “You’d all have to pay me back though, double.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Franky-san said Sanji-san had put some extra preserves in the trunk.” Brook stated, sweating.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll make it, then!” Luffy straightened himself in his seat, and looked over to Brook.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you going to make it with?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re just sandwiches, Nami-san,” Brooke replied, before motioning for Carrot to grab the supplies, using the door in the back seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a little while the sandwich supplies were brought up to Luffy, and he sat, focused with them in his lap. Pedro had asked Nami if he could look through the news, and was currently scanning through the recent articles. Chopper was giggling to a joke Brook had made, and Carrot leaned over the seat, so she could converse with them. Pedro widened his eyes, and poked Chopper beside him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can you get Luffy’s attention, this might be important to him.” He nearly whispered into the teen’s ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper looked at the news title, and brief pictures, “Yeah, of course. Hey, Luffy!” much to his dismay, the boy was way too focused on trying to make sandwiches.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Brook leaned over the teen, to look at the screen Pedro held, “Oh, isn’t that Sabo?” he asked, before he began to read the article.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sabo?” Luffy said, turning around, “Can I see it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course, I thought you might be interested, because this was about your fa-” Pedro was cut off by Brook’s boney hand. He looked at the musician skeptically, and he whispered something Nami couldn’t make out, but the jaguar-dressed man understood it clearly, and nodded, before handing Nami’s phone over to the man in the passenger seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami couldn’t really read the article, but the boy’s face was etched with concern, “That’s him? We look nothing alike!” Luffy yelled, turning back to face Pedro, “But I’m concerned about Sabo.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sabo’s your other brother, right?” Brook asked, “The one you saw in Dressrosa?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah! I thought he died!” Luffy giggled, “Ah, it was nice to see him again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, you have brothers?” Nami asked, glancing over at him briefly, before her eyes focused back on the road.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy smiled, “Yeah, I did.” the smile faded slightly, as he remembered something, probably sad for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I’m sorry.” Nami stated, noticing his mood change.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But Sabo’s alive!” Luffy’s smile brightened, “I hope he’s okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper and Brook shared similar sorrows in their faces. Nami felt like she was missing a big part of the story, but decided not to question it, anymore, “Luffy, you done with that food?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked down at his lap, “Oh! Right! I forgot!” and he began to work on the meal again.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ha... ha... ha...<br/>I bet you all can see where this is going, hehe.<br/>Welp. Yep. That's that.<br/>Though, I realized that I had forgotten to add in a couple arcs that I really wanted to turn into a modern au, but the crew has already departed, and I'm already missing writing Zoro.<br/>I've nearly finished writing the draft for chapter 40, and spoiler, Zoro hasn't come back into the story yet!<br/>I'm half disappointed in myself, but at the same time, there's so much I want to cover before I get into the Wano arc.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0025"><h2>25. Poisonous</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Luffy! What are these?” Nami asked, as she held up a wilting sandwich-like food. They were parked in a rest-stop.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’re sandwiches!” He smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But they look inedible.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! I spent a long time on those!” Luffy defended himself, his brow furrowing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Have you ever made a sandwich before? How did you mess up on a sandwich?” Nami frowned, and looked over at him, “And where did you get the rice anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Rice tastes good on sandwiches.” Luffy pouted, “You haven’t even tried it, yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Chopper cried, “We can’t eat this!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy-san,” Brook stated, sorrowfully, “Maybe we should have just paid back Nami-san.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“An injured person should not eat this!” Pekoms called over the seats.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why’d you eat my carrots?” Carrot whined.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I tried it, at least.” Pedro stated, though his face was wrinkled with disgust.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You guys are so mean!” Luffy stated, “This is the first time I’ve made food, it won’t even taste bad.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, then you eat it.” Nami frowned. She had taken a small nibble and wanted to gag, but she decided that if he thought it was fine, she’d eat it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, I will.” Luffy responded, picking up his own sandwich, and taking a large bite out of it. Much to everyone’s distaste. Quicker than lightning, Luffy then rolled down his window, and hung his head out of the car. Everyone stared at him for a few minutes, before they watched him throw his sandwich out the window, “That tastes disgusting!” he yelled, once he brought his head back in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s no biggie, Luffy,” Nami smiled, as everyone followed his leadership, and got rid of their sandwiches, “I’ll just make us some new ones.” She turned to Brook behind her, “Can you get me some of the food?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wish, Nami-san, but Carrot-san had brought all of the food out of the trunk, and I gave it all to Luffy-san.” Brook frowned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami turned to the dark haired owner of the vehicle, “Can I have some of the bread?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I used it all, cause I kept messing up.” Luffy replied, with a smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You what!” Everyone in the car yelled at him, and he backed himself as far away from them as he could, into the dashboard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s great!” Nami sighed, and slouched in the car, her head resting on the steering wheel, “Why did I come with you guys in the first place?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, you okay?” Luffy asked, poking her shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” She yelled, and hit him over the head, “We haven’t even been gone a day, yet!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ow!” Luffy mumbled, as he curled himself as far away from her as possible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The next stop isn’t for a while! We’re gonna starve!” Nami cried again, slamming her head against the steering wheel.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s the ocean beside us, can’t we stop somewhere, and fish?” Pedro asked, after Nami had gotten back on the road, her stomach grumbling, lightly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But how are we supposed to cook it?” Nami asked, glancing back at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We can stop and roast it over a fire.” he reasoned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then there’s no seasoning, and it’ll taste bland.” She frowned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! Nami, you’re no fun!” Luffy yelled at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s better than nothing, though, right?” Pedro asked, before he poked his head out of the sunroof again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What’s with all of you guys…” Nami mumbled to herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>By the end of the day, she decided it would be a good idea to go ahead and rest for the night. They had been driving most of the day, and it was beginning to get a little boring, and annoying, as Luffy continued to whine about how he was hungry, forgetting that he was the cause of all of their growling stomachs. Nami pulled the seat forward a little before she pushed the backrest back, so she could lay down, trying to be considerate of Brook who was sleeping behind her. Everyone had already fallen asleep, including the idiotic neighbor of hers in the passenger seat. She turned her head to face him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even if the idiot was annoying, he had such a soft face when sleeping. She smiled, and hesitantly reached a hand up to run her fingers against his soft cheeks. She had been essentially kidnapped at the beginning of this trip, but she had hoped that she might be able to dig a little bit more information out of his mysterious history, but she ended up with more questions than answers. She propped herself up on one elbow, as she brushed her fingers against his right cheek, slightly pushing his soft black hair out of the way. He definitely needed a shower, his hair was a little oily, but his face was so peaceful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before she knew it, she was staring over him, studying his face, he turned his head to the side, a little, and mumbled something about meat in his sleep. She ran the tips of her fingers against the scar under his left eye, and her orange locks met his neck. He might be an idiot when he’s awake, but she could forget how attractive he really was. She smiled, softly, and pushed the hair off his forehead. He was absolutely adorable, even if he was an adult, his innocence even showed when he was sleeping. She bent her head down, and placed a soft kiss against his forehead, before she brought her lips back and realized what she just did. Quickly she let his bangs fall back over the place she kissed, and she retreated back to her own seat. She turned to face the car door, and away from him, a light blush adoring her features.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy woke her up the next morning, as she turned her head to nearly kiss his, “Nami! Wake up!” He stated, as he waited for her eyes to focus.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” She announced, and she tried backing away from him, forgetting she was in a car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy sat back down in his seat, “We’ve gotta go, now! I’m hungry, and Sanji’s waiting for us!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sat up, and glanced behind her, everyone was still sleeping. She looked at the clock, it was only five in the morning, “Can’t we sleep a little longer, Luffy? It’s five o’clock.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We pulled in here at 12. I haven’t gotten a full night’s rest!” she nearly yelled, but remembered the passengers sleeping behind her, and it came out as a hoarse whisper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can drive, if you want to sleep.” Luffy shrugged, “We just have to go straight, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For the next two hours, yes,” Nami replied, yawning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright then,” Luffy began and leaned down, scooping her out of her seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, what are you doing?” Nami reacted, trying to get his hands out from under her legs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s quicker this way,” Luffy replied, successfully sitting her down beside him, before he climbed over her, and the console, sitting down in the driver’s seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He started the car, glancing at the people behind him, before he put it in first gear, and pulled out of the rest stop they had decided to stop at. Nami had parked the car backwards, so that the early sun would wake her eyes. Nami yawned, “Aren’t you still tired?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nope!” He replied, “but you can sleep, if you are.” He pulled out of the rest stop and onto the road, “This way, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Nami said, looking at the gps, “just keep going straight till I wake up.” she yawned, and curled herself into the warmth of both his body heat that had been there, and the heated seats that he turned on for her. He threw his red cardigan, that he had been wearing, over her, and continued to drive off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was thankful for the added warmth to her body, after all, she was only wearing a white thigh-length dress. She was curious what this whole thing was about, but she felt like she still had to come because Sanji was her friend. Even if she did have some time to be relaxed, and enjoy her neighbor’s strange company, she was still anxious. They were acting like this was some regular occurrence, but it definitely wasn’t. She fell back into a comfortable, though stressed, sleep as she felt the car drive steadily along the road.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Nami awoke, Luffy was exhausted, and she could tell he was starving. He honestly looked like he hadn’t eaten in a few days, and it scared her, “Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned his head to face her, “Yes?” he asked, the car swerving to the side.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Face forward!” She yelled, and if anyone was still asleep in the car, they would have been woken up. She grabbed his face, and turned it to the windshield. She could definitely feel his cheek bones, and it wasn’t the good kind of feeling. His skin was dry, as opposed to the soft skin before. “Luffy, pull over.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy nodded, and pulled the car over to the right shoulder. Nami hit the hazards, and forced Luffy’s face to face hers. “Luffy, are you sick?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy’s eyes widened, slightly, “No.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then why do you look like near skin and bones? I know you ate yesterday.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy reached his hands up to grab hers, “But not today.” As soon as she let go of his face, he fell forwards, landing on her shoulder. “I’m hungry…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked around, and didn’t see anything that they could go to for food. There wasn’t even a gas station. He was moaning, and shaking, she noticed. He might have a high metabolism, but he can’t go long without food. “Luffy, where are we?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You told me to keep going straight…” his voice was shaking along with his body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But stay on the road, at least.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I did.” Luffy replied, as he tried to lift his head, but his muscles wouldn’t let him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We should be near an intersection,” Nami mumbled, and looked at the clock, “Oh shit!” she jumped, to look at it again, Luffy falling off her shoulder, and his ribs slammed against the console. “Luffy!” She said turning to face him, as his face was smashed into the seat cushion behind her, “Why didn’t you wake me up! It’s eight-thirty-seven!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You told me to keep driving til you woke up.” Luffy mumbled against the seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sit up!” Nami yelled at him, as she nudged his head, so she could sit down comfortably.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He can’t, Nami,” Chopper yawned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s famished.” Chopper replied, placing a hand on the bare back of his friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can see that!” Nami huffed, “But he can collapse in his own seat, can’t he?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He can’t move, Nami.” Chopper said, all of the sweet innocence gone from his voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami scooted herself over till her knees rested on the soft carpet of the inside of his vehicle, “Is he gonna be okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, he will be.” Chopper replied, and fitted his friend into a sitting position in the driver’s seat, “We’re next to the ocean, we can try a hand at fishing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good idea, Chopper.” Luffy replied, as he struggled to open the door.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pedro, can you get the fishing rods from the trunk?” Chopper asked, “Luffy said we’re fishing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pedro agreed instantly, and got out of the car, to get the three fishing rods. Luffy fell out of the car, on opening the door, and Nami found it ridiculous how he can just become like that, without eating food. However, Luffy forced himself to stand, and ran over to the water, where he threw the rod over, it dosed with bait. Pedro and Chopper joined him, as he nearly fell into the water a few times. Nami watched from the car, and noticed the boy suddenly reeling the rod back in, he was struggling however, and it was taking a long time to do so. He must have let out a lot of wire. Finally, he hulled it up, and fell backwards as the large fish collapsed on top of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Food!” he yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait!” Nami yelled as she got out of the car, Brook and Carrot following behind. Pekoms said he was too injured to get up. Nami was scrolling on her phone through poisonous fish, because the color of that one looked off. She successfully found it, and it was poisonous, or at least its skin was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy turned to face her, his mouth full. Chopper and Pedro hadn’t touched it yet, but Luffy had already taken a good chunk of the skin, and a little of the raw meat, and shoved it in his mouth. He looked healthier though, she admitted. “What?” Chopper asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s eating it raw!” Nami exclaimed, upon reaching them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know!” the teen replied, “I tried to stop him, but he said he was super hungry, and it couldn’t wait.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not as big of an issue right now, though.” Nami shook her head, and looked at the teen, “Was he the only one who ate it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s poisonous!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” Chopper, Brook, and Carrot all shouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, spit it out!” Nami turned to the chewing adult.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, it’s good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s deadly poisonous!” Nami panicked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Chopper cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Poison doesn’t affect me, anyway.” Luffy replied, shrugging.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure you’re not feeling anything?” Chopper asked, poking his friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m fine.” Luffy replied, and smiled. “You guys want some?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me cook it up first.” Nami replied, grabbing the line the fish’s mouth was still attached to, and hurdling it over to the fire that Pedro had made for the fish.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With the jaguar-dressed man’s help, she was able to cut it, skin it, so no one else ate the skin, and cook it over the fire. She found a little bottle of seasoning by her feet when she got out of the passenger seat, and used it on the fish. After it was done, and the aroma got Pekoms out of the car, Chopper shouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” he sounded panicked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked behind her, as she placed the fish onto the paper plates Luffy always had in the back, according to Brook. Chopper was crying, “What’s wrong, Chopper?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Nami got up, leaving it to Pedro to serve everyone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s not moving!” Chopper cried, as he lightly shook the person laying on the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami rushed over, still having a plate in her hands, she handed it to Chopper, and knelt down beside the black haired adult, “What happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know! He was fine, and now he’s not!” Chopper cried, as he took a bite of the fish, “So good!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you have any medicine that can help him out?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, and I don’t have the supplies to make the antidote!” Chopper cried again, as he took another bite, “So good!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is Luffy gonna die?” Nami asked, and noticed everyone had gathered around. Brook held a plate out to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This poison is usually instant death for a healthy strong man, but Luffy has a high immunity to poison, so it took longer to happen!” Chopper cried again, then took another bite, “Delicious!” he swallowed his food, and continued, “Unless we get the antidote soon, it’s possible! I don’t want Luffy to die!” he wailed, as he took another bite, “So good!”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>You all know whose gonna show up in the next chapter, don't you???<br/>Yep. Another cliff hanger from yours truly.<br/>You're welcome.</p><p>My gosh! I totally have writers block on this story right now, and it might have to do with the fact that I'm currently writing two One Piece fanfics, and two Fairy Tail fanfics, while also trying to draw art for both of those fandoms... What has my life become?<br/>But, if you'd like to, my other One Piece fanfic follows the perspective of Nami, though it isn't REALLY a ship fanfic. Its called Puzzle Pieces, and its in a fantasy world that I created the concepts of. Idk, please tell me your thoughts on its comment section. That'd be helpful! Thanks!!!</p><p>Hopefully I can update these chapters more often, seeing as I'm already trying to figure out what comes next in (spoiler alert) chapter forty-two... Ugh. Stupid writer's block...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0026"><h2>26. Sister?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Luffy twitched as he lay in an unconscious state of mind. A car drove past them, though pulling over, to see the commotion. They pulled over on the opposite side of the road that the Sunny was parked on, as they were coming from the opposing direction. Chopper looked over as the back door of the limousine was opened, and a man with his green hair slicked back, and in a tight black suit with a green lined cape stepped out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji!” Chopper immediately exclaimed, upon noticing the swirl of his eyebrow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not Sanji,” the man began speaking, before noticing Nami, “Hot!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It isn’t Sanji, Chopper, but he sure acts like him.” Nami replied, as she was gripping Luffy’s near lifeless hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you have any medicine with you?” Chopper exclaimed, rushing over to the man, before being halted by the raise of his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Medicine?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, our friend ate a poisonous fish, and we need an antidote right away!” Chopper exclaimed, raising his hands as he explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“For that idiot?” he laughed, “Go ask someone else!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But there is no one else!” Brook yelled at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not my proble-” he was cut off by someone hitting him on the head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yonji, be quiet, will you.” A pretty pink haired woman, with her hair covering her right eye, had hit him on the head. “What’s the problem?” she asked, walking over to the doctor teen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Our friend has eaten a poisonous fish and-” Chopper was explaining again, and she nodded, silencing him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made her way over to the unconscious boy, her tight pink dress flowing slightly under the broad butterfly-esque purple cape she wore. She knelt by Luffy, shooing Nami away in the process, and rested her hand against his face, “Was the fish in a purple hue?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes!” Nami replied, holding up a picture on her phone on the attributes of the fish.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman looked at the picture, before licking her lips, “My favorite.” she smiled, and collapsed her lips onto Luffy’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“W-What are you doing?” Nami yelled a bright blush appearing on her cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t do that! You’ll die!” Chopper announced, rushing over to stop her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman’s cheeks sucked in as she began to consume the poison from one mouth to her own. She gulped lightly, and continued to use the boy’s mouth as a straw. She pulled her lips away from his, finally, Luffy collapsing back on the ground, and she licked her lips. “That was delicious.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You… you just sucked the poison out of him!” Chopper exclaimed, rushing over, “How? Are you okay? Do you want me to examine you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, no, no,” she replied, with a light smile, “I’m Reiju, Sanji’s sister, Poison Pink.” she smiled, “That really was delicious.” She noticed the boy’s look to her, than the black haired adult unconscious on the grass. “The fish was luckily not far down his esophagus, so it was easy to get out, though I recommend using this to finish the job.” She smiled, and dug into the cleavage of her dress, to pull out a small vile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“An antidote?” Chopper asked, catching it, after she threw it to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It should help.” she smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy sat up, and rubbed his head, “What happened?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! Luffy!” Nami cried, and rushed over to him, “Are you alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m fine,” Luffy replied, looking around him. He noticed Reiju standing looking at him, with the smile he gives to meat printed on her face, “Sanji?” he asked, also appearing to notice her swirled eyebrow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, but I am his sister.” she smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She saved you, Luffy!” Chopper cried, as he hugged his friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Saved? Why? What happened?” Luffy asked, looking around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You idiot!” Nami cried hitting his head, her blush still present on her cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where are you going, straw hat boy?” Reiju asked, as she turned to leave.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Straw hat boy?” Nami repeated, looking at Luffy, noticing his straw hat clinging to his neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re gonna save Sanji.” Luffy replied, as Chopper used a needle to give him a shot of the antidote.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Save?” Reiju repeated, “I’m afraid that might not be possible, cause we’re on our way to his wedding, now.” she turned and began her walk back to their limo, “I hope you don’t come.” she had a frown on her face as she got in, after her brother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They drove off, and Luffy glanced around him again, “What happened?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You really don’t remember anything, Luffy?” Chopper cried, removing the needle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I remember eating that fish…” he trailed off, before his eyes seemed to sparkle, “Is there anymore? It was really good!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s what got you into this mess, you idiot!” Nami cried, hitting him over the head, again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After they had successfully gotten back on the correct route, and Nami was back behind the wheel, Luffy decided to speak, “Nami…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glanced over at him, waiting for him to continue, but he didn’t. He just looked at his hands. She sighed, and Brook leaned over the console, connecting his phone to bluetooth so they could listen to music. Chopper was ecstatic about it, and so was Carrot. Pekoms groaned in the back, and Pedro was standing, with his head out the sunroof. Brook corrected the audio to play in the back, so they could jam out to it, and leave Luffy to his thoughts. He didn’t think much, so when he did, they wanted him to have enough time doing so.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t until Nami had gotten back onto the original route, finally, about an hour later, that she heard noise coming from Luffy’s general direction, other than the music blasting behind her. She glanced over at him, and his eyes were squeezed shut as if he waited for her to hit him over the head. He opened one eye and peeked at her, as she glanced over at him every once in a while, so she stayed on the road. “Luffy, did you say something?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? You didn’t hear me?” Luffy asked, it was a break in between songs, and she could finally hear him clearly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She decided to pause the music, “Sorry Brook,” she mumbled, and looked back at the road, “No, I couldn’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh,” Luffy sighed, a frown etched on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was it important?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy smiled at her, as if to hide his hurt expression, though it wasn’t going well, and shook his head. He opened his squinted eyes, and asked, “How long till we get there, now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami glanced at the gps, “It’s saying around four to five days.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay.” Luffy smiled, and played the music again, before Nami jolted down the volume.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” Luffy, Chopper, Brook, and Carrot yelled at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve been listening to this music for an hour, okay, I don’t want to hear more of it!” She called back to them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, you’re no fun.” Luffy pouted, and crossed his arms, slouching in the chair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Slouching is bad for your back, Luffy, sit up straight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Luffy replied, and shook his head, “Not until you turn back on the music, and let us listen to it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not gonna do that.” Nami growled at him, before noticing the clouds getting closer than before, as she drove.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy slouched more, sliding in his seat, so that his knees were on the ground, the lap belt across his chest, and the shoulder belt not even on him, “Then I’m not gonna sit up straight.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s gonna storm.” Nami mumbled, and sighed, “That’s not what we need right now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy slid out of his seatbelt, and raised his head, “Nami, you’re ignoring me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami sighed, and turned up the air, so it was blasting into Luffy’s hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, don’t do that!” Chopper yelled at her, “Luffy’s ears still haven’t fully healed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It feels good though, Chopper!” Luffy replied, closing his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That much air blasted in your ears, isn’t good for them to heal, Luffy. It took a while for them to heal fully last time, because you did stupid things like this!” Chopper yelled at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, fine.” Luffy replied, and stretched an arm over to fix the fan speed, “But it felt good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Chopper smiled, satisfied. He then looked at his friend sternly, “Don’t get all messed up in Tottoland, Luffy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not gonna happen.” Luffy replied, sitting back into his seat, “We’re just gonna get Sanji, and get out,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper looked satisfied, before leaning back into Brook as he decided to play some games since Nami wasn’t letting them listen to music. Carrot was leaning over the seat to watch. Luffy looked over at Nami, and crossed his legs in the seat, his back to the door. She was looking at the road, intently. He turned his head, to see water droplets beginning to pelt his windshield. He looked back at Pedro, as he closed the sunroof, and sat back down in his seat, securing the seatbelt around him. Pekoms was sitting up now, and began a conversation with the man in front of him. Luffy felt a little left out, so he turned his attention back to Nami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami,” he stated, she didn’t turn to face him. “Naami.” he received no response from her again, “Naamiii.” he dragged out the vowels, speaking a little louder than before. Getting a little irritated by her ignorance of him, he leaned over the console and yelled in her ear, “Nami!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She jerked her head back, and looked over at him, her nose touching his, “Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He giggled, “I’m bored.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She turned to face the road again, a blush on her cheeks, “Talk to Brook or Chopper.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t.” Luffy shrugged, and rested his head on her shoulder, “They’re busy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She flinched, as his ear touched her sleeveless shoulder, “Then Pedro, or Carrot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Also busy,” Luffy replied, and sighed, before tilting his head slightly to look at her, “besides, I wanted to talk with you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The car swerved, and Luffy fell off her shoulder, Nami shrieked, as he caught himself before he landed in her lap, “Luffy!” She yelled trying to fix the car on the rainy road. One of Luffy’s hands gripped on the dashboard, and the other on her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked up at her, “Nami, be careful!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s blush subsided slightly, as she gripped the steering wheel tightly, “What do you mean, with me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy pushed himself in an upright position back in his seat, putting as little force as possible to her head, “I wanted to talk with you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do I need a reason?” Luffy asked, tilting his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami raised her eyebrows, before shaking her head, “No, not really,” she glanced over at him briefly, to catch his smile, “What do you wanna talk about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t know, thought you’d have an idea.” Luffy replied, holding onto his ankles, and rocking back and forth in his seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don't-” Nami corrected herself, “Is your job fun?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My job?” Luffy asked, she nodded in return, “Of course it’s fun, Nami, is your job fun?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, it is.” She smirked, so it isn’t a job he doesn’t like. She decided to chance it, some more, “What was the last fun thing you did?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The last fun thing I did…” Luffy repeated, his face frowning in thought, “At my job?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I-” He cut himself off, and a stern expression adorned his features, “Wait, if I tell you, am I telling you what my job is?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, not at all.” Nami replied, with a smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, okay then,” he smiled, and Nami felt a little bad for deceiving him, his innocence and gullibility were too much, but she also wanted to figure out what his job was. “I think that the most fun thing I did on my job had to have been when we-” Chopper slapped a hand over his mouth, earning Nami’s frown.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy! I thought you didn’t tell her yet!” Chopper whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I didn’t tell her.” Luffy mumbled against the teen’s hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then why are you telling her your job?” Chopper whispered again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not. She said if I tell her the fun thing that happened a few days ago, then I’m not telling her my job.” Luffy pouted as Chopper removed his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But that ‘fun thing that happened’ is your job, Luffy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” Luffy’s eyebrows raised, and his eyes widened, he slammed a fist into his palm, “Makes sense.” Chopper retracted back into his seat, satisfied that he had stopped his friend from revealing something he hadn’t planned on yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami, however, was severely disappointed in Chopper’s sudden interference, she decided to change the subject, “Why’d you decide to move to Sabaody, anyway?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy smiled, and he giggled, “My friends are here, why else!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Where were you living before that?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy tilted his head in confusion, “I though Usopp had told you when we first met,” he mumbled, then turned his body, so his back was against the backrest of the seat, “If I tell you…” he trailed off, and turned his head, “How long have you lived there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami glanced over at him, not expecting that question, “I’ve lived there for over two years.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Two years!” Luffy exclaimed, “That’s a long time!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Not really, Luffy,” Nami sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, where’d you live before that?” Luffy asked, leaning over the console.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cocoyashi,” Nami responded, before regretting that she didn’t play his game of not telling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Coconut?” Luffy asked, and sat back in his seat, “Sounds familiar.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s eyes widened, and she looked over at him, “Have you been there?” He looked over at her, and she turned to face the road again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe, it sounds like a place I beat some bastard up at.” Luffy replied, and frowned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a small town,” Nami replied, “How long ago did you beat the guy up, maybe I had met you before?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked over at her, “Well, it was before Ace…” he trailed off, “Over two years ago, then.” He looked at the ceiling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ace?” Nami mumbled, then shook it off for the time being, “Then maybe we did meet!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hmm,” Luffy shook his head, “I don’t know, I was only there because someone stole my car, and I beat up some other guy, I didn’t really even go inside the town itself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stole your car?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, we only recently got Merry, too,” he shrugged, “Don’t worry, we got her back, alright! There wasn’t even a scratch on her!” he smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Merry looked like Mini Merry, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, kind of, I mean…” he glanced back at Chopper, “Oi, Chopper, does Mini Merry look like Merry?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper looked up from Brook’s phone, “A little, Mini Merry is smaller than Merry, and it’s a bike instead of a car, also it’s colors are slightly different,” Chopper explained, “But the figurehead is the same!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy nodded, and turned back to Nami, “Yeah, it looked like it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see,” she voiced, before recalling a similar sounding car she had used to get back to Arlong before he got mad at her. The owners had left the keys in the ignition, so she just decided to use it for the time being. That car wasn’t yellow though, and she didn’t remember seeing a lamb head on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did you see Going Merry?” Luffy asked, leaning over the console again, practically in her ear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe,” Nami replied, “Who stole the car?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy frowned, “I don’t know, I didn’t get a good look at her. Zoro went after her with Usopp though, I wanted to be her friend.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami laughed, “She stole your car, and you wanted to be her friend!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, she seemed nice when she took it, she even told Zoro’s old friends that she’d return it!” Luffy defended himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami laughed, as the rain pelted the windshield, the wipers constantly wiping the water off, only to be repeated again, “She was probably lying to them, Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But she was hurt when I got there, I don’t think she was lying.” Luffy frowned, folding his arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hurt?” Nami asked, ceasing her laughs for the time-being.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, some girl tried telling us why, but I didn’t really wanna hear it.” Luffy explained, he sighed, “I really wanted to be her friend, too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t you see her again?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well,” he thought to himself, “After I beat up the bastard, I wanted to go down to her, she still had my hat, but then Zoro got it for me, and said we had to leave, cause they were coming.” he frowned again, “I never went back to the town, so…” he shrugged, “Maybe if I go back, she’ll be my friend, though!” he laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s eyes were wide, “You gave her your hat?” she looked over at him, her attention on the hat that adorned his neck, “That one?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked at her as if she were stupid, “Yeah, this one, what other one?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing, it’s just the person, who freed me from my ex, had given me his hat to wear while he beat the guy up.” Nami explained, looking at the road again, the sun setting, if the rain weren’t making it impossible to see the red hues.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wow!” Luffy’s eyes were wide, “This guy seems nice!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He was,” Nami smiled, remembering how he yelled to be her friend. She had never had real friends before so his words felt more meaningful than they probably would to someone else, “I wish I could meet him again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe you will!” Luffy giggled, and he sat back into his seat, and closed his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami sighed, his story seemed almost parallel to hers. If Luffy had been the man that saved her, and not the guy from the ice cream shop, she’d be perfectly fine with it, after all, this guy beside her, she knew, but she didn’t know the guy from the shop. She frowned, maybe the boy who saved her wasn’t the guy from the shop, after all. He did have similar sunglasses, but he also was more cheerful, and fun. He seemed like the kind of guy who was a complete dork, but was lovable like that anyway. The man from the shop was too serious. If anything, Luffy matched the boy who saved her two years ago, than the man in the shop did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After the sun had set, she pulled into a rest stop, not wanting to waste money on a hotel, she glanced at the gas gauge and noticed it nearly empty. The rain still poured onto them, and she looked over across the street as a gas station, its lights were still on, so she assumed they were still open. She looked over at Luffy, as he lay on top of his buckled seat belt, sleeping soundly. She didn’t want to spend her own money on his gas, she glanced behind her, and noticed Pedro sleeping against the window, Chopper leaning into Brook, and Carrot using the singer’s afro as a pillow as they slept. Pekoms was sleeping as well. It was just like last night, she held in a giggle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy,” She whispered, and he didn’t respond, “you awake?” The silence told her he wasn’t, and she whispered, “I’m gonna use your card on the gas, okay?” she asked, only to be met with sleepy mumbles of meat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulled out of the rest stop, and drove across the street to the gas station. She pulled into one of the pumps, and looked over at Luffy, gulping lightly, as she leaned over the console to him.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Alright! Please leave your thoughts! Please!<br/>I know, I know, these are the most adoring cliff-hangers you ever did see, and I am grateful that you wait even more patiently with each new cliff-hanger that is released.<br/>Calling me queen of cliff-hangers? Now that's an overstatement, but do I love writing them? Yes, absolutley yes.<br/>All jokes aside, I actually really enjoyed writing the time they took driving to Tottoland, and probably should have made that 'arc' of my fanfic a little shorter than I did, but it is my fanfic, and I can do what I want with it, so long as I don't completely ruin it for my own tastes. So, I dearly hope you enjoyed this fanfic chapter, and I hope to get the next chapter out asap!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0027"><h2>27. Food</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami took a deep breath, as she reached her hand, gently into Luffy’s left pocket, feeling around lightly, and quickly, for his wallet. On finding that it wasn’t there, she glanced over at his other pocket by the door. She looked back, and turned off the car, before getting on her knees and kneeling over him, she slipped her hand in his other pocket, and successfully pulled out the wallet. She released her breath, as she began to sit back up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her effort was pointless though, because the boy she just stole from moved his left leg, causing the hand that was supporting her, unconsciously between his legs, to become trapped, and she fell face first into his stomach. She let out a light yelp, muffled by his skin, a blush against her cheeks, as she struggled to get her arm free. Luffy turned on his side, so he now faced the door, so it was a hard angle for her to get her arm out. She placed the wallet aside, glancing behind her to see if she woke anyone up, before placing her hand against the hem of his pants, and yellow sash, and pushing against him to free her arm. She groaned quietly, her stealth decreasing since two years ago, and she freed her arm, and sat up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looked over at Luffy to make sure he was still asleep, thankfully, he was, but his facial expression wasn’t as peaceful as before. It looked strained, pained maybe, and she briefly wondered why, before remembering she just used her whole right arm’s strength against his lower abdomen. She grimaced, as he turned to face her, still sleeping, his right hand now absently resting where she had pressed. She opened his wallet, glancing over at him, occasionally, and looked at the few cards he possessed. She realized she didn’t know his pin on his debit, and the other two cards weren’t credit cards, so she decided to pay with cash. She opened the cash compartment, and was nearly surprised with the load of hundred dollar bills stuffed inside. Luckily there were some twenties, so she looked at the gas gauge again, and opened the door, closing it behind her, as she took the keys, and made her way inside to pay for the amount of gas needed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thirty dollars worth,” She said to the man at the counter, as she placed two twenty dollar bills in front of him, “of gas on pump three.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, thank you, miss.” The man replied, taking the cash, and typing things into the register, before opening the drawer, and handing her ten dollars in return.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you,” Nami replied, after he told her she can start pumping the gas.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She went up to the car, and unlocked it, before opening the door, so she could open the tank cover. She glanced around in the car, noticing everyone was still sleeping, the man whose money she was using as well. In her defense, she reasoned, it was his car, and they were the ones who dragged her into this, so it wasn’t her fault she stole the money from him, by digging into his pants. No matter how she worded that in her head, it sounded wrong. Her face went red, as she unscrewed the cap on the car, and pulled out the pump. She pressed the unleaded, knowing this type of car took that, and filled the tank, thirty dollars worth of gas, which unfortunately got only half the tank.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glanced over at the amount of gallons filled, as she got back in the car, she looked at the receipt, she made sure to print, and looked at the amount she paid, making sure the price was as low as she had thought it was. True enough, the price was low, only one-fifty, which meant he had one heck of a tank on the car. She wondered what his mileage was, as she closed the door and drove off, back across the street to the rest stop, so she could sleep. She leaned the backrest of the seat back, barely, not wanting to smash the adorable scene behind her. She had taken a picture before deciding to sleep. Nami laid down, and looked up at the ceiling of the car, before turning over onto her right side, now facing Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had already taken a picture of Brook, Carrot, and Chopper, so might as well take a picture of him, too. She whipped out her phone again, and opened the camera. Luffy looked peaceful now, the pain she caused him, though it was his fault, now not affecting him, as his lips were dawned in a slight smile, as his eyes were closed gently. She snapped the photo, and shoved her device back into her pocket. She smiled, as she looked at him, his innocence radiating off of his attractive body. She reached a hand over, and ruffled his hair, lightly, so he wouldn’t wake up, “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, before retracting her hand, and closing her eyes into a comfortable sleep.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami woke up before Luffy, this time, the sunrise’s light shining through the windows, and reflecting off the steering wheel. She sat up, slowly, and looked over to the man beside her. He was sprawled out, like a starfish, in the seat, his head uncomfortable pressed against the backrest. She raised the backrest to her own seat, and opened her phone to check the navigation. She was met with the picture she had taken last night, and she smiled lightly before closing out the app and checking the gps. She noticed her phone was near dead, again, and she grabbed the chord to plug it in. She looked back over to the sleeping Luffy, and behind her to the small crew he gathered, unintentionally, for this journey. Chopper yawned, as he began to sit up, and she decided to go ahead and drive, they had a long way to catch up. She wished they could drive in shifts, because then they don’t have to continue stopping every once in a while.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everyone was soon awake in the car, and chatting like it was the middle of the day, save one. Luffy was still asleep, and Nami briefly wondered why. The day before he woke up far before anyone else, with only five hours of sleep. But then again, he only had five hours of sleep, she reasoned, maybe he did need to sleep for a few more hours, even if that was nearing double soon. Chopper however, increased her worries, when he noticed the cheery voice of the dark haired friend was not radiating through the car, half an hour after everyone had woken up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, has Luffy not woken up yet?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, he hasn’t, is that a problem?” Nami asked, without looking behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I’m just wondering if the medication has an affect on him,” Chopper stated, as he leaned forward against the middle console.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is there anything in it he’s allergic to?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy-san, allergic to something?” Brook laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Brook’s right, Luffy doesn’t really have any allergies,” Chopper replied, “So, he can’t be allergic to anything in it.” He brought a hand up to brush away the dark wet hair. “He’s sweating.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is he sick?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy doesn’t get sick, either,” Chopper replied, “No, I think it’s probably a dream.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A nightmare?” Nami asked, glancing down at the straw hat on the boy’s head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe,” Chopper replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Could it be because he hasn’t eaten much?” Pedro asked, bringing his head back into the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper looked up at him, “That might be it, actually, Pedro,” he said, then turned back to the boy, “All he really does is eat and play, and sleep, so if he hasn’t had energy from his food, it would make sense for him to sleep. All we ate yesterday was that fish, though his portion was stolen from his throat due to Sanji’s sister.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami adorned a blush, “So it’s just because he’s hungry, then.” she said, relieved.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Chopper replied, “I suppose I was worried for nothing.” He sat back in his seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sometimes, the teen didn’t sound like he was only nineteen, or so. Nami glanced over at the dark haired man laying down beside her, “Should we get him food?” she asked, “There’s a restaurant not far from here.” she glanced down at the gps on her phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Might be a good idea, it would probably wake him up.” Chopper replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Carrot suddenly spoke up, “I have one carrot left if you want to give it to him, it might not taste good cause it hasn’t been cold.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Brook looked behind him, “That might actually work.” he said, taking the offered carrot. He waved the vegetable in front of Luffy’s nose, “But then again, it’s not meat, yohohoho!” He handed the carrot back to Carrot, who took it, and bit into it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another two hours passed before they actually reached a restaurant, the one she had seen on the gps was closed for the day, and it didn’t really sell Luffy’s typical meal. They pulled into one of the available lots, at the far end, Nami not wanting to get near people in fear of damaging the nice car. As Carrot, Brook, and Chopper were getting out, Pedro said he’d stay with Pekoms, Nami turned to the still sleeping idiot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy,” she said, pushing his shoulder. He didn’t respond to her, and she got a little irritated, she had driven them for his sorry self, “Luffy!” she yelled and hit him in the sore spot she had given him last night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ow!” Brook stated, “Don’t do that to him, Nami-san!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy however, woke up, groggily, “Owww.” he yawned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy we decided to-” she was cut off by him suddenly sitting up, bonking her head with his own in the process, “ow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Food.” he said, and turned his head to face her, “Where’s the food?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s what I was telling you, Luffy, we decided to stop at a-” she was cut off, by him grabbing her shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” he started crying, “You brought me to the food! Thank you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, yeah, no problem,” Nami replied, before he climbed over her, and out the driver’s door, dashing over to the fast food restaurant.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Chopper called.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy-san, wait for us!” Brook yelled after him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yippee! This place looks interesting!” Carrot jumped into the air, like a rabbit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! Luffy, don’t push me aside like that!” Nami yelled at him, as she got out of the car, and closed the door behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They entered the building, with an extremely hyper Luffy. Chopper and Brook had to hold him back so he wouldn’t climb over the counter. Nami walked over to them, and looked at the options, “I’ll pay for you guys, but you’ll have to pay back with interest.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” all three of the boys behind her yelled. Carrot looked at them dumbstruck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Except you, Carrot.” Nami finished.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Nami, that’s fine!” Luffy said, “I can pay for my own!” he stuffed his hands in his pockets, and pulled them out, empty. “What? Where’s my wallet?” he stuffed the pockets back in and pulled them out again, “It’s gone!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami wore a light blush on her face, before turning to him, “Um,” she began, earning his attention. His large eyes on her made her stutter out, “I-I used your money for the gas.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay,” Luffy replied, still not understanding, though the two friends behind him did, “so how come my wallet’s not in my pockets?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s because-” she took a deep breath so she wouldn’t stutter, “I took it out of your pocket so I could get the money out of it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see.” Luffy replied, nodding, as if there were no further questions to be asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“When did you get gas?” Chopper asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Last night, when you were all sleeping,” Nami replied, glancing over at Luffy to see if he would ask.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So…” Brook began, but on seeing her face he laughed, to cover up the question he was going to ask, “Yohohoho, is Luffy-san’s wallet in the car, now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, it is.” Nami replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll go get it then,” Brook said, and walked out of the building, and back to the Sunny.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy watched him leave, “I’m not paying you for my food.” he said to Nami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, I know,” Nami defended herself, “I’ll pay for mine and Carrots.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You said you got gas last night?” Luffy asked, and glanced back at the car, through the windows, “Do I have to pay you back for that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I used your money, remember,” Nami replied, shaking her head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, good! Cause I don’t think I could have!” he laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami wanted to hit him in the head, of course he could have, she reasoned, he had a load of hundreds just sitting in the wallet. He should put them in a bank or something. Brook came back with the black wallet, it had a white cartoonish pirate flag skull wearing a straw hat embroidered on it. Nami had failed to see it in the dark of the night. The musician handed the small bag to Luffy, and he took it with glee.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright!” He exclaimed, and walked up to the counter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello, how may I help you?” the cashier asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I have all of your burgers?” Luffy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“All of them?” the woman replied, confused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah!” Luffy answered, and looked up at the screen, “All of them!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami could practically see his drool coming from his mouth, she rolled her eyes, as Chopper and Brook filed in behind him. “Luffy, don’t take all of their stock.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, but I’m hungry, Nami!” Luffy replied, looking back at her, “Fine.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman at the register was still slightly confused, “What can I get for you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I have all of your burgers?” Luffy asked, and looked behind him to glare at Nami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glared back, because it appeared he didn’t quite understand what she was saying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“One of each burger?” the woman questioned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Luffy asked, “No, I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami interrupted him, suddenly slamming a hand against his mouth. She had rushed over when he asked for all of them a second time, and decided to ‘clear’ things up with the lady behind the register, “He means he wants one of each burger.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” Luffy muttered into her hand, she could feel his dry lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And a large water.” Nami finished for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” Luffy opened his mouth wide, and she removed her hand, fearing he was gonna bite it, “I can order my own food!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They won’t have food for the rest of us, if you do that, Luffy.” Nami answered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll just take the regular chicken burger.” Brook stated, “and some hot tea, and a glass of milk.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can I have a cheeseburger?” Chopper asked, “and cookies! And-” he looked to Luffy, who urged him to continue, “and a shake!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman tapped all the information into the machine, and looked up, “Will that be all for you then?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Luffy replied, and glared at Nami, “I wanted-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami slammed her hand on his mouth again, “He wants some cookies as well,” she smiled, “Yes, thank you, that would be it for them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy glared at her, and she removed her hand, “Why’d you do that, Nami?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, you got your burgers.” Nami waved her hand at him, dismissing his comment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’ll be two hundred fifty-six, forty-seven.” the woman stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry, what?” Nami asked, as she watched Luffy open up his wallet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Two hundred fifty-six, forty-seven,” the woman repeated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy pulled out a hundred dollar bill, “Here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, you need one hundred fifty-six, forty-seven more.” Nami said, and he turned his head, to glare at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You ask for food, you give money, you get food.” He stated, and the woman took the hundred, and was about to ask for the remaining, but decided to wait.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, let me see your wallet, you didn’t pay enough money for the food.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Luffy asked, holding his wallet closer to him, “I’m not giving you any money, Nami!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want to take your money, Luffy, you have to give her the right amount of money, or else you won’t get your food.” Nami stated, trying to stay calm as she reached her hand out to take the wallet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t have time for this, Nami, we have to get to Sanji, we can’t sit around with you wanting my money!” Luffy yelled at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, that isn’t what she’s saying,” Chopper tried to calm them down, seeing as other people in the restaurant were staring at them now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry,” the woman stated, “One hundred fifty-six, forty-seven is remaining, would you like to pay that with a card?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked over at her, “A card?” he asked, and opened his wallet again, “You mean this?” he said, pulling out his debit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, yes.” she replied, “If you wouldn’t mind inserting that here,” she gestured to the pin pad.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Insert it?” Luffy questioned, “Where?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, have you never used a card before?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I have,” Luffy defended himself, his cheeks brightening in embarrassment, “I just usually don’t use the card.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Like this,” Nami took the hand that was holding the card, and brought it down to the chip reader. She pushed his hand forward, successfully inserting the card.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh!” Luffy replied, letting go of the card, and grabbing her hands, “I see!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You guys are adorable.” the woman behind the counter smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami turned her head to look at her, “Adorable?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” the woman sighed, “How long have you been together?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Together?” Nami asked, her cheeks brightening.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Two months.” Luffy answered, and Nami’s cheeks turned cherry red.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, no! That’s not what she means.” Nami stated, and Luffy looked down at the pin pad, and tapped in his pin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, it is,” Luffy replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Brook laughed, and Carrot jumped, “I had no idea!” she exclaimed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper looked a little confused, “Together as in friends or together as in lovers?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked over at him, “What’s the difference?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami turned to the woman at the register, “We’re just friends, neighbors, even.” she raised her hands, trying to defend herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman smiled, as the pin pad ringed, signaling for Luffy to remove his card, but Brook and Chopper were explaining something to his childlike mind, so Nami removed the card for him. The woman looked down at her screen, briefly, “You don’t think he likes you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I’m serious, we’re just friends.” Nami smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy turned around to face the woman at the register, “I’m sorry!” he exclaimed, mainly to Nami, it seemed they successfully managed to explain it to them, “Is this what Usopp was talking about when we met?” he asked Nami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, yes.” she responded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, I see, sorry if I made you uncomfortable! I thought she meant friends.” Luffy laughed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The woman looked at Nami, and a sad expression came to her face. Nami’s face had slightly fallen, on hearing that he thought they were just friends. She did admit to herself that she liked him, and it probably was obvious with Robin, and she couldn’t tell if Zoro knew. She turned around, and made her way back to Carrot. The woman looked back down at the screen, as the receipt printed, “Your number’s gonna be five sixty-three.” she said, handing the receipt and giant cup to Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks!” Luffy replied, and handed the paper to Brook, not really caring about it, and made his way to the fountain, Nami telling Chopper to make sure he gets water.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami went up to the counter with Carrot, who ordered a carrot salad, and carrot juice, and Nami settled with a chicken sandwich and an orange smoothie. Eventually, they were both waiting for their food at the table, and number five sixty-three was called for Chopper’s and Brook’s food, but not Luffy’s. Five sixty-four was called afterward, and Nami got up to get hers and Carrot’s food, as Luffy pouted while sipping on his water.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m hungry!” he said, when she returned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You did order everything on the menu, Luffy.” Nami said, sitting across from him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That doesn’t help!” he yawned, his eyes drooping.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Five sixty-three!” the voice called, and Luffy had already forgotten the number, so Nami got up to go get the food. Unfortunately, it was only half of the desired food he ordered, and she made her way back with the tray of four bags.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, here’s some of it.” she stated, as she saw his eyes were closed, and his cheek resting against the lid of his cup. She smiled, and Chopper took a bag, saying he’d go out to give it to Pedro and Pekoms. Brook argued, in Chopper’s defense, that Luffy didn’t even read the menu, so he wouldn’t know how much he ordered, anyway. Nami nodded, as Brook went back to conversing with Carrot. Luffy’s face looked so cute, pressed against the cup like that, she had to take another picture, swearing to herself that she wished she never took a picture of him in the first place, because now anything cute he does, when sleeping it seemed like, she wanted to take a picture of it, like he’s some sort of first-born baby. She snapped the photo, and then Brook turned to Luffy, having reached a pause in his conversation, as Carrot rose to relieve herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy-san,” he began, “your food is here.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami set the tray down on the table, and Luffy opened his eyes, immediately they became wide, and appeared to sparkle. She giggled, lightly, as he reached into the three bags to pull out his burgers, pushing aside his water cup for the time being. She started to sip on her orange juice some more, before finishing off the other half of her sandwich. He ended up finishing all three bags, before she finished her sandwich. Chopper sat down next to him, and finished up his shake, as Luffy’s number was called again, and Brook went to get it this time, giving the four bags to Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A couple days, and a boat ride later, and they finally reached the country Tottoland. They were about to dive across the border, when Pekoms stated from the back, “You should all get in the back, and I drive the car in.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Why?” Luffy asked, eyeing the first city.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It wouldn’t be good if they found out you were on their land, right? So if I take the car in, there shouldn’t be a problem.” Pekoms explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, that makes sense.” Luffy, Chopper, and Carrot said at the same time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So it would be helpful for you to all pile in the back, where they can’t see you, since this car only looks like it's a five passenger, instead of seven.” Pekoms continued explaining.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami,” Luffy said, turning to the girl beside him, “pull over, and climb in the back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You have to, too.” Nami replied, suddenly wondering why she liked the idiot in the first place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Soon, they were all in the hidden back seat, and Pekoms was in the front. Brook and Pedro laid on the floor, while Chopper and Carrot huddled together in one seat, since they were small enough, leaving Luffy and Nami to the other. Nami had to keep pushing Luffy’s head down, and decided it would be best if she just sat on top of him. He began complaining, but Pekoms was driving the car across the border now, and she slammed her hand to his lips as she ducked her head, knowing her orange hair was quite visible. Luffy was practically laying on the seat, his knees bent, as Nami sat against them. Her legs were on either side of him as she kept him down with one arm, and hushed him with her other hand.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I apologize for this chapter. I greatly apologize. I know I left you all off with a cliff-hanger, but I would completely understand if you had cringed your way through it.<br/>Feel free to leave your thoughts and opinions on this one, I got a little carried away with it, and it probably shows. I apologize once again.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0028"><h2>28. Pudding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>After they successfully made it through the border, Pekoms poked his head in the car, to tell them he was going to go ahead and get them clothes to wear, so they didn’t stand out in their current attire. Luffy sat up, easily, trapping Nami between his knees and chest unintentionally, and watched as Pekoms walked into the city, where no roads were found, to get them clothes. Nami blushed, lightly, but hit him over the head, as Brook and Pedro rose from their crouched positions. Chopper and Carrot released each other, and sat up to look at the city.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chopper,” Luffy began, “It said on the sign it was known for its chocolate.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Chopper asked, and looked toward the city, “Do you think it’s sweet?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” Luffy stated, as Nami looked up to his face, noticing his desire to eat, and squirmed against him to get off. Luffy seemed not to notice her there in the first place, since he began to get up and climb over the seats.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami successfully made it easier for him, by hitting him over the head so he’d look at her, and he stupidly asked her what she was doing there. After he leaned back onto his palms, did she slide off him, and he climbed over the seat with Chopper, got out of the car, and ran into the town. Nami got out, and glanced around. Everything there was either chocolate themed, or sold chocolate. As they made their way through the town, to stretch their legs, a citizen ran into Pedro, but he shut him up, and continued following them. As they reached the center of the town, they ran into Pekoms, who handed them all clothes to wear, and said he had to get going.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami and Carrot went into a public restroom and changed, putting their old clothes in the shopping bags Pekoms had the clothes in, and Pedro and Brook did the same. There were only the two shopping bags with new clothes left, one for Luffy, and the other for Chopper. When the four regrouped, there was a police officer who dashed past them, on a bicycle, yelling ‘I’ll handle it!’ into his walkie-talkie. Nami looked at where he was heading, and Brook suddenly dashed after him, Carrot following behind, with a gleeful smile on her face. Pedro shrugged, and followed, leaving Nami alone with her bag of clothes, and Luffy’s new ones, Brook had Chopper’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When Nami reached the scene, she saw Luffy, and Chopper sitting on their knees, bowing their heads to the officer. They were in front of a chocolate store, and the culprits had chocolate speared on their lips. Nami looked over at Brook, who laughed, and Pedro, folded his arms, and adjusted the hat on his head. Carrot looked oblivious to what was going on, so she decided not to ask her. She stepped up, out of the crowd that had gathered, “Excuse me, officer,” she began, “What’s the problem here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man looked over at her, and huffed, folding his arms, and turning his nose away from her, “Why should I tell a ‘nobody’ like you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Excuse me!” Nami began, beginning to stomp forward, before a voice broke out from the back of the crowd.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop! Officer-san!” the woman’s voice called, and it sounded familiar to Nami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The officer turned around, to look at the approaching woman, along with the rest of the crowd, “Pudding-sama!” he exclaimed, and bowed his head, “What brings you here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I asked them to try my chocolates!” Pudding stated, “I wanted to know if they would taste good.” she looked over to Luffy and Chopper, “They were good, right? That’s why you ate them all?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ate them all?” Nami repeated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep! They were delicious!” Luffy and Chopper responded, in sinc.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s great to hear.” Pudding smiled, and turned back to the officer, “There’s nothing to worry about, I promise!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, Pudding-sama,” the officer said, and got back onto his bicycle, riding off. The crowd dispersed, afterwards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pudding turned back around, “Let’s go inside and talk.” she smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami handed Luffy his bag of clothes to change into, and Brook handed Chopper his, “Okay, Pudding.” Nami answered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy opened the bag, and peeked in, “Nami, what is this?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A change of clothes, idiot.” Nami responded, as she followed the brunette, Pudding, in through the back door of the shop, to a small apartment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After Luffy and Chopper changed, and joined them, Luffy asked, “So who are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pudding glanced over at Nami, then back at Luffy, “You’re Sanji’s friends, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, and?” Luffy responded, taking a seat between Nami and Chopper at the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Charlotte Pudding, Sanji’s fiance.” Pudding responded, a light blush adoring her cheeks, “Though, I’m afraid I can’t marry him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know this is beneficial to us, and all, but why?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, when I met him, again, yesterday, he was really sweet, but…” she smiled, “he told me that he couldn’t marry me, because he had to get back to his friends.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji rejected a girl!” Nami, Luffy, Chopper and Brook yelled, before being hushed by the said girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But,” Nami began, testing the waters, “weren’t you and Sanji dating?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Luffy asked, and turned his head toward the orange haired girl next to him, “Sanji was dating someone?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, we were,” Pudding responded, Luffy’s question being ignored, “but we decided to go on break… I decided to go on break.” she corrected.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, why?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, you know how Sanji is part of that vi-” Pudding was cut off by Pedro, who placed a dagger under her chin, as he gripped her from behind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pedro!” Nami yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have to kill her, Luffy, she knows too much.” Pedro stated, inching the dagger closer to the girl’s neck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Brook, Luffy, and Chopper shook their heads, as Luffy spoke up, “Yes, we know,” he answered Pudding, “is that why you ‘went on break’?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pudding nodded, as Pedro released her, and sheathed his dagger, “So, I want to help you guys.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But aren’t you the daughter of Big Mom?” Brook asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” she sighed, “that’s true, however, I want to help you guys out, so that you can get your friend back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay!” Luffy laughed, and leaped into the air, “then let’s go!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t,” Pudding frowned, “because I am the bride, but…” she grabbed out a piece of paper from behind her, and scribbled on it, “if you take this route, you can get to Whole Cake without being detected by the guards and security.” she handed the paper to Nami, who looked it over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Got it, thanks Pudding.” she smiled, “Will Sanji be waiting here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll bring him there, I promise.” Pudding responded, as Luffy and the others exited the apartment, and made their way back to the forefront of the city to Luffy’s car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s get some chocolate, Nami.” Luffy said, eyeing a stand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Nami scolded, pulling on his shirt, as he carried a new bag of food she had purchased.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once they got into the car, Nami taped the map to the dashboard, so she could see it, and started the vehicle. Luffy sat in the passenger seat, Pedro behind him, Brook behind Nami, and Carrot squeezed next to Chopper between the older men. Nami buckled herself into the car, hating the fact that they had to drive again, and Luffy rolled down the window. It luckily only took around half a day to get there, avoiding entering the city limits, or in a five mile radius of the city limits, for each city they passed on the way there. For some reason, on the way there, they had to traverse through a herd of angry wild black cattle, which Luffy, Brook, and Pedro successfully defended the car from, as they hit them away out the windows, or above the car, in Pedro’s case. Upon reaching the main city, or capital of Tottoland, Whole Cake, Luffy jumped up in his seat, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling of his vehicle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look! Look!” he exclaimed, like a child at an amusement park, “There’s Sanji!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Where?” Chopper asked, leaning forward, half because he didn’t have any room, and half because he was eager to see the blond headed friend of theirs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Over there!” Luffy said, eagerly, pointing out at the slight curvature of a mountain, near a cliff, where a blond man in a white shirt and black pants was standing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh! Wow! You’re right!” Chopper exclaimed, and pushed Nami’s shoulder, “Hurry, Nami, he’s waiting!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami parked the car, just outside the city limits, and Luffy jumped out, instantly, “Sanji!” he yelled, running up to the man, who ran off. Luffy froze, with one arm raised, he glanced back at Nami and the others, before chasing after him, “Sanji! Wait!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun!” Nami exclaimed, watching him run off, “Luffy, wait!” she called, and ran after the black haired man.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji!” Chopper and Carrot yelled, chasing after him as well, leaving Brook and Pedro to the car.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy walked inside the woods, and stopped, Nami bumping suddenly into his back, “Why’d you stop?” she asked, a hand on her nose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s gone.” Luffy answered, and glanced around, “where’d he go?” his attitude changed, slightly, “Nami,” he turned to face her, his face stern, “Why’d he run!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami stepped back slightly, shocked. Although Luffy’s eyes were partially covered by his black sunglasses, she could see the stern look he held, as his dark chocolate brown irises peered over the rim of the sunglasses. His black hair slick with sweat, from his run, as his hat shaded all but the sun’s reflection in the whites of his eyes. He looked a little scary, she had to admit. “I…” she began, but hung her head, Luffy didn’t appear like the Luffy she knew and loved, and it hurt her, “I don’t know.” Her stubbornness on her own feelings failed to see the hurt in his eyes, the tears threatening to fall under the concealment of his sunglasses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy,” Chopper began, but Luffy turned away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s go find him,” he said, “he’s got to be in here somewhere.” he walked off, Chopper nodding, as he followed his friend of two years.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Carrot looked back at Nami, as she was hesitant to leave her, she lightly grabbed her wrist, “Nami?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked up at her, her eyes glossed over, “What, Carrot?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you hurt?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” Nami lied, “we should catch up, and find Sanji.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami stumbled along, ever so often looking up, to see the straw hat covered by a white cap in front of her. She sighed, “he was hurt, too, wasn’t he?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Carrot asked, looking back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami glanced up, “Nothing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She noticed they were coming into a clearing, there were still a few trees around, but it was mainly filled with flowers, pink, red, and gold flowers, making it appear like the grass itself wasn’t even there. As if they were walking on a road of happiness, and it hurt her even more. Luffy’s stern expression had faded, and he was calm now, occasionally calling Chopper over to look at a strange bug he found, but for the most part, she ignored him. She faintly recalled him calling to her, but she didn’t know what for, because she didn’t pay it any mind. She glanced up and he had disappeared, with Chopper and Carrot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy?” she asked, and ran ahead, hoping they hadn’t strayed very far. She was correct, for as she went around a few trees, and the bend in the road she realized he was following, she saw him, bending over a small river taking a sip of the mountain water. Chopper turned to look at her, he had a hurt expression on his face, probably because they couldn’t find Sanji, she assumed, and Carrot smiled, a small smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy began crossing a bridge, “Come on! I think I saw Sanji over here!” his voice was less serious than the last time she had heard him, it was hopeful.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” she muttered, as she noticed him fix his sunglasses back onto his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami followed Carrot onto the bridge, as a large crocodile leaped from the water, and jumped over the bridge. Carrot ran, and she tried to follow, but tripped on her own footing, and froze as the jaw came close to her. She closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the impact of the sharp jaws to pierce her flesh. The warm blood pouring over her pale skin, the pain that would make her forget about her selfishness.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>hehe... I know what you're gonna say, you don't have to say it, hurt my precious feelings... so I'll say it for you:<br/>"What's with the cliff hangers!!!"<br/>Good question, here's the answer:<br/>As -for the most part- an action novel author, I like to leave some suspense at the end of each of my chapters to keep the story moving, not only that, but it helps keep the story in a steady flow, even after I haven't added to it in a few days, so its contents isn't fresh in my mind. I think it keeps it a healthy story, tbh.<br/>Also, spoiler alert, I might have to change the warnings and add some new tags and relationships as I publish more chapters. Eep! Sorry!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0029"><h2>29. Imposters</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami felt warm arms wrap around her torso instead of the sharp jaws of a crocodile. She opened her eyes as she collided with the ground, rolling atop her savior. She took a couple of deep breaths as she glanced over her shoulder to the bridge, where the crocodile, which was larger than normal, had successfully hurt his jaw, and crawled to the edge of the bridge, and back into the water. Swimming off, with distaste in his mouth. Nami turned back down, and relaxed her head, pressing it against what was under her, as she gripped fabric in her hands. She heard a slightly racing heartbeat in her ear, and looked up to see Luffy looking behind her at the bridge. She then noticed while one hand was supporting him against the ground, the other was raised in the air, as if protecting her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You okay?” he asked, the sunglasses now on the tip of his nose. They looked a little familiar to her, but she dismissed it, as she pushed her forehead against his chest, to hide her face. Embarrassed that she had been so focused on herself, she forced him to come and save her, when he should be catching up to Sanji.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” she sighed, and felt him sit up straight, her butt suddenly resting on the ground between his legs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s good,” Luffy sighed, in return, “That guy didn’t even realize you were there, stupid crocodile.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Nami asked, looking up, to see the defined jawline, as he was still looking at the bridge.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked down at her, “He wanted the food that was on the bridge, didn’t you notice it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami pushed herself away from him, “Why’d you do that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Save me, idiot!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy smiled, “I can’t let one of my friends die, can I?” He fixed his sunglasses over his eyes, so she couldn’t see his sad expression, although she could tell he was thinking of something that had happened in the past, and for some reason his mention of Ace became relevant in her mind, but she quickly dismissed it, as she stood up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have to find Sanji, right?” she asked, “Would it be better if we split up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Luffy replied almost instantly, as he crossed his legs underneath him, and brought a hand up to his chin.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But then we’d be able to cover more ground,” Nami defended her suggestion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But we don’t know where we are, Nami,” Luffy said, and closed his eyes in thought.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We could go in pairs,” Carrot suggested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That wouldn’t work either,” Luffy shook his head, his eyes still closed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why not?” Chopper asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I told you, we don’t know where we are, so if we were to go in groups, I’d have to find you guys, too.” He opened his eyes, and stood up, “So we’re all sticking together, got it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy turned around, away from the bridge, and started running off, deeper into the forest, the other three following behind him, Nami in the back again. The trees were thick, but somehow, Nami managed to keep up with him, although she tried staying farther away from him still. They turned a corner, and Luffy stopped abruptly, for the second time that day. The other two also stopped, and they all stared at who was before them. Nami ended up bumping into Carrot, but each paid it no mind as she looked up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes widened, and her pupils shrunk, she took a step back, and shook her head. Before her stood a man wearing similar clothes as Luffy, a similar hat as him, and even the same sunglasses. The only difference was that he seemed a whole lot more stern, than her neighbor. She glanced over at the Luffy who had traveled with her this far, the one who owned the vehicle she drove. He was mad as well, dawning the same facial expression. It was as if it was his doppleganger. There were a few differences here and there, but for the most part they were identical. Did Luffy have a twin, she wondered, as she stammered out, “What the heck are you doing, Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy glanced behind him, and turned back to face the imposter, “Keep searching for Sanji, I’ll catch up with you!” He yelled as he threw a punch at the man, who matched it, colliding their fists.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, Nami!” Chopper called, grabbing her hand, and pulling her with him and Carrot as they ran off passed the man who looked like their friend, or his friend, “What’s got you so scared?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He seems different!” She responded, as her feet began to run with them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I know!” Chopper replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He looks more sinister than Luffy, he looks more like he’s gonna kill!” Nami cried, “I can’t take it! What happened to Luffy?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Carrot glanced behind her, noticing the battle continuing in perfect reflections of each other, “It’s like it’s a mirror.” she stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean, ‘what happened to Luffy’?” Chopper yelled at her, “He’s our friend! Nothing happened to him!” He suddenly stopped, causing Nami to look behind her, and Carrot to bump into him, “He’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>our</span>
  </em>
  <span> friend, right?” he looked up into her eyes, “He’s your friend, right? You trust him, don’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Nami asked, glancing around, to make sure nobody else showed up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You trust Luffy, don’t you?” Chopper asked, a scared look starting to creep into his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chopper, what are you talking about?” Carrot asked, looking back and forth between Nami and Chopper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“W-What?” Nami stammered, “of course I trust him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it because he hasn’t told you?” Chopper asked, “Is it because that man made you scared of him?” he looked down, gripping his hands together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? No, of course not!” Nami answered, “I still trust-” her sentence broke off as she noticed blond hair behind Chopper, “Sanji-kun?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The blond haired man stood still, as if waiting for her to approach him, before he smirked devilishly at her, and Nami noticed it wasn’t him. Upon closer inspection, she realized they were pulled into a trap. She glanced behind her at Chopper and Carrot who also noticed that there were more than one ‘Sanji.’ She turned and ran back the direction they came. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on! Let’s go!” Nami yelled, “It was a trap! Sanji isn’t here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Pudding wouldn’t do that to us, though, right?” Chopper asked Carrot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know! Let’s go get Luffy!” Carrot responded, as she ran ahead of Nami, who frowned slightly on the mention of him, which Chopper noticed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They ran into him again, as he was slowly losing his energy in the repetitive battle he was having, “Who are you!” he yelled, to which the person didn’t respond.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, Luffy, we have to get out of here!” Chopper yelled, and Luffy turned his head, as he watched them run by.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chopper no, I do trust Luffy,” Nami responded shaking her head, “I just don’t trust who he’s with!” she continued to run, as Luffy joined them, failing to hear the suddenly muted cry and struggle fading behind them as they ran.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They came to the clearing again, having lost track to where they were in the forest, they looked around them and noticed many people coming toward them, no longer pretending to adorn Sanji’s features as they came out of the dark shadows of the woods. Nami froze in her spot, hiding behind Chopper barely, realizing she had no real way of defending herself, save the baton that Usopp had made her before they left Zou. She gripped it as it rested under her skirt, in its smallest state, and glanced around her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, what’s going on?” she mumbled, subconsciously blaming him for all her troubles at the moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, Nami,” Chopper responded, “but we have to get out of here somehow.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Carrot shivered, “These people don’t look very friendly, will we have to fight them?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Probably,” Nami sighed, her eyes wide in fear, “Why’d we separate from you in the first place, Luffy?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy?” Chopper asked, turning around, and Nami noticed his eyes widen in terror as he struggled to choke out, “N-N-Nami!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A slender, yet witch-like hand clasped over his mouth as Nami felt arms wrap around her neck, and she glanced back, noticing that Luffy was holding her, “Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No,” the woman holding Chopper stated, as she smirked, lightly, “that isn’t your friend, you fools.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chopper!” Carrot cried as another person held onto her, “Let me go!” she cried, struggling to put on her electric-powered gloves she had in her pockets.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” Nami cried, “What is going on!” she noticed now that the man holding her indeed wasn’t Luffy as the sunglasses fell off his face, and she noticed that the scar that was on his face was on his right side, instead of his left.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You idiots thought you could get a safe trip in and out of Tottoland, didn’t you?” the woman stated, and Nami noticed she was a little hunchbacked, and her nose was long and red. She had pale, sickly colored skin, and she wore a nightgown-like dress.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is going on!” Nami cried again, struggling to free herself from the imposter’s grasp, “Luffy!” she cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He won’t come save you,” the woman stated, smugly, “we made sure of that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami grabbed the baton tightly under her dress, and pulled it out, hitting the man behind her in the head with it, before extending it, “Let them go!” she cried, hoping her time defending herself against Arlong’s abuse and attacking people who came after her on Arlong’s little errands, was enough to help her out in this battle. She hadn’t fought for two years, but she still exercised everyday in her orchards.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Think you can fight back, do you?” the woman stated, before being kicked by Chopper as he did a front flip out of her hold.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Carrot successfully got a hold on her gloves, and slipped them on, before electicuiting the man holding her, “Let us go!” she cried, “We didn’t come here for you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know,” the woman stated, as she rubbed her jaw.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami,” Chopper asked, “Is that the baton Usopp made?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, why?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It has electricity capacities,” he stated, before using kung-fu against the onslaught of people.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” she asked, as she swung it around, defending herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Usopp’s like an engineer, sometimes,” Chopper replied, before punching a heavy built guy in the face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why didn’t he tell me!” Nami asked, extending it further to hit a few more people.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Didn’t have time, remember?” Chopper stated, before noticing Carrot attacking the woman who held him, “I’m gonna help Carrot, that woman’s strong!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And leave me here alone!” Nami stated, as he ran off to help the blond haired girl.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami defended herself off of each person, and eventually figured out how to use the electric capabilities, and the fog machine built into it. She used it as a cover, when she dove further into the trees, hoping that they wouldn’t find her, and she ran off searching for the one person she knew, hoping the woman was lying. She noticed a few stragglers of the crew she used to trick them, and fought against them as best she could. She continued to run, praying that Chopper and Carrot would make it out all right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She reached a small clearing, and glanced around, there was no one there, no one to help her, no one to save her. She didn’t even know what the heck was going on. All she knew was that they were going to crash a wedding, even if it was supposedly Big Mom’s daughter’s. Big Mom. Nami’s eyes widened as she suddenly recognized the name. Big Mom was one of the names Robin had told her a month or so ago after the terrorist attack, and she asked for more information on the vigilantes. Big Mom was a big one, and on top of that, she was an emperor who was going against the world government: Charlotte Linlin. The woman was strong, powerful, and feared. Charlotte Pudding was her daughter, Pudding was going to marry Sanji, Sanji would become part of this woman’s family. Nami fell to her knees, she got herself into far more than she could handle, and they had been following an imposter Sanji the whole time.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was shaking, Luffy, Chopper, and Brook, even Pedro, seemed perfectly cool with this, without even giving her more information about this mission. No wonder Sanji had decided to go ahead with them. Luffy was, is, crazy. Nami glanced at the orange and white striped baton in her hand, were they all crazy? Knowing Luffy, it was possible that all of his friends were crazy. She struggled to her feet as she felt someone approach her from behind. She glanced back, but didn’t get a good look as she was suddenly tied up and swung over the shoulder. She panicked, and began kicking her legs to be let down. The person, however, began running, and she stopped struggling to keep herself from falling. Her baton was in her hand that was now tied behind her back. She couldn’t escape, that woman had found her, and sent one of her minions out to get her. She was done for, there was nothing she could do. If only she hadn’t stopped moving, she would probably be free from that awful person, she reasoned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She closed her eyes, as she was tossed, without care, into a bunch of people. They were all tied up, and they looked like the minions that had disguised themselves as Sanji and Luffy’s friends. She glanced around her, although it was a struggle to move. Why were they all tied up? Weren’t they part of her evil crew? Did they betray her, and that was why they were tied up? She froze however, when she heard a voice.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How come I just can’t find them?”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Oh YES!!! How dare this author give us another cliff-hanger! I can't stand it! I want to know what happens next! Please! Just update again!<br/>Yeah, I wish that's what you were thinking... Is it?<br/>So, this chapter was fun to write! And spoiler alert: I'm definetly changing the rating to mature, instead of teens+. There's just a LOT more blood and gore coming up, if there was any before this, that is. I know on the tags its already there, but that's because I put those on there after I already had written the chapter with (spoiler) freaking blood everywhere!<br/>I'm an action author, give me a break, it's not fun if there's no risks involved.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0030"><h2>30. Possible Truth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>A shiver went down her spine, before she tried twisting her neck to see who was speaking. The other people there were all unconscious, she noticed. By the time she turned her head around, she could see the back of her kidnapper running off. She squirmed in her spot, trying to free herself from the ropes that were tied around her. She had nearly gotten the hand with the baton free when she heard footsteps returning, and she saw two more imposters being added to the collected bunch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard the man sigh, “I was sure I would have found at least one of them by now!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who are you?” She decided to speak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” the man asked, “Who said that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you planning to do?” she asked, stern.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well,” she heard the man sigh, “Why should I be telling you?” he was yelling away from her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why did you bring us all here?” she asked, thinking this man had to have been an idiot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cause it’s easier having all the people who aren’t my friends here, so it’ll be easier to find my friends.” the man explained, “Now who are you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Friends?” Nami mumbled as she struggled to turn around and face him, “who are you?” Finally able to turn around her eyes widened, satisfied that she was saved, but she then yelled angrily, “Luffy! Untie me!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy jumped back, “This fake Nami’s angry!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m the real Nami, now untie me, idiot!” she yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re the real Nami!” Luffy asked, yelling again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, now untie me!” Nami yelled at him again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After she was untied, she hit him over the head a few times, before straightening her back, and placing the baton back on the band under her dress. She glanced around, noticing that it was hard to see the sky under the shade of the dark trees. She glanced over at the black haired man, as he rubbed his head, droopy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, that hurt.” he frowned, before snapping to a standing position, “Someone’s coming.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Nami asked, recognizing it as the same tone he used when Sanji was snooping around her backyard.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go hide, Nami, someone is coming.” he repeated, and stepped in front of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I just found you, I don’t want to be separated again, Luffy.” she yelled at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy turned his head, his glasses still covering his eyes, but she could see from his side profile, the seriousness in his eyes. They seemed to have lost all of their childlike behaviors, “Nami, I can’t protect you if you stay here. I don’t want to lose anyone anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami nodded lightly, before dashing away, she turned around though, and noticed his stance he took as he waited for the enemy to come appeared familiar. Even if she was seeing it from the back, she was certain she had seen someone hold that stance before, but she couldn’t name where. She decided to climb a tree, thinking that he might need help, but she knew she couldn’t do anything serious. She looked down as the person approached, he was dressed in box-shaped armour, and held a long sword. Nami gulped, as she peered out of the tree at them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come at me!” Luffy cried, and charged at the man, swinging a punch to him, but he jumped back, failing to break the armour. He swung a kick at him, and she watched him be flung back by the sword. “Coward!” Luffy cried, “Hiding behind that stupid armour!” He jumped in the air, and swung both arms backwards, before springing them onto the man’s body-plate. Luffy landed on his feet, supporting himself with one hand against the ground, before running toward the man again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami gulped, and shut her eyes, hearing a sudden cry of pain. She faced away from the battle, continuing to hear grunts and cries from both parties. She suddenly heard a loud yell, and she turned to see Luffy holding his arm. He was panting, the armour was cracked though, and Luffy jumped up again, and spun around, swinging a leg at it, successfully shattering it. The man underneath had purple hair, slanted eyes, and was shirtless. He pulled out a sword, and began spinning it in his hand, before thrusting it forward like a spear. Nami yelped as she saw Luffy take the hit, flinging him back a few feet as it appeared he blocked it. He dropped to one knee.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you gonna do, Straw Hat?” the man asked, as he swung his sword carelessly around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy glared at him, “I came to get Sanji back, so that’s what I’m gonna do!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami gasped, ‘Straw Hat’ was the name of the captain of the vigilante group that saved her at the ice cream shop. She glanced down at Luffy, and noticed the same seriousness etched onto his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man thrusted his sword forward, and Luffy dodged it, rolling on the ground, “Your little friend doesn’t want to be with a low-class like you!” the man yelled at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop saying things like you know Sanji!” Luffy cried, swinging himself up onto a branch for momentum, before flinging himself forward, crashing his head into the man’s gut.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man let out a grunt, as he stumbled back, but regained his composure, “Straw Hat Luffy,” the man said, “your little friendship with him is foolish!” he laughed, as Luffy wiped some blood off his chin, the man continued, “You think he’s been friends with a stupid idiot like you? When you meet him, he’s gonna call you trash, scum, low-life!” he cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t even know Sanji!” Luffy cried out, before punching the man again, his punch appeared weaker than before, Nami realized. “Sanji’d never say things like that! Who are you to tell me what my friend would say to me?” he yelled, before getting stabbed in the shoulder with the sword. He threw back his head slightly and yelled as the sword was drawn back, blood following.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami gasped, and a light sound escaped her lips, “Luffy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy clicked his tongue, before jumping up into the trees, and swinging away from the fight. Where is he going? Nami wondered, and glanced over at the man who began to chase him. She slipped down from the tree she was in, and decided to follow them. Hiding behind trees everytime the soldier turned around. Eventually she caught up with them, and noticed Luffy panting against the base of a tree. He was grabbing his stomach, and his eyes were lidded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So strong, aren’t you?” the man asked, before kicking Luffy in the ribs. The black haired man grunted, and the standing man decided to kick him again. Nami covered her mouth as she watched the blood spray out of Luffy’s mouth as he fell over, there was no way he didn’t feel that pain. “You’ll never win against me!” he stated, before drawing his sword, and grazing its tip along luffy’s arm, barely scratching the surface of skin, but still enough to draw blood. He then raised the sword in the air, and aimed it at the weakened Luffy, straight to his heart.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Nami yelled, and squeezed her baton, creating a fog. She electrocuted the man, before wrapping an arm around Luffy, and running off with him, as best she could, although that wasn’t very far, and she decided to slip into a small cave, barely fitting both of them under its shelter. She looked over to Luffy through the small light that was let in.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thanks, Nami.” he choked, “I just need ten minutes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy,” Nami said, as she watched him close his eyes, “Are you…” she took a deep breath, “Are you the captain Straw Hat of that vigilante group that saved that ice cream shop a month ago?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy opened his eyes, and turned his head to face her, too weak to sit up, “How?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That man, he called you Straw Hat, and…” she raised her eyes to meet his, “and you have the same sunglasses, you have a straw hat, and… and you didn’t get that cut in your shoulder blade that I stitched up from fighting Sanji about food, did you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy sighed, closing his eyes, and turned his head. He opened his eyes, and smiled, staring up at the ceiling of the cave, “Is that all?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Um, not exactly,” Nami answered, and scooched herself a little closer to him, and leaned over so she could see his eyes. Her hair, although in low pigtails, fell over her shoulders, and hovered over him, “Is ‘Straw Hat’ the same guy who defeated Arlong back in Cocoyashi a little over two years ago?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arlong?” Luffy repeated, “That guy with the long nose?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s eyes widened slightly, “he had a long nose, yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Was he that guy who hurt that girl? Who caused her to stab herself in the shoulder?” Luffy asked, “You were from Coconuts, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was dumbfounded, as she stared down at him, “You…” she froze, and let her head fall against his chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ow! Nami!” Luffy cried, but hushed, as he heard the man’s clinking of metal outside the cave. He left and Luffy felt something wet against his chest, he looked down at her, “Nami?” he was tired, and exhausted, but she seemed to be crying, and he couldn’t move a muscle to comfort her. When she lifted her head, a delicate smile stretched across her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Did… you beat up Arlong to save her?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked up at her, his eyelids threatening to close, “He made her cry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami smiled again, her tears strongly falling now, dripping onto Luffy’s face, “Luffy,” she said, before he drifted into a sleep so he could fight that man again, “Let’s be friends.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, as she lifted his head partly off the ground. She snuggled her nose into his neck, the blood on his shoulder getting onto her cheek, “I want to be friends with you, too. You were the first person who really wanted to be my friend, Luffy. I just… wish I had caught your name then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt his relaxed body become more limp, after a couple minutes of holding him to her, and she gently laid him back down. His eyes were closed, and he had a pained look on his face. She wasn’t even sure if he heard everything, but she wanted to help him. She wanted to help him out. She knew she had been mad at him, and she knew that he was a vigilante, but she also knew that he was the one who saved her. He saved her from Arlong. He saved her from those terrorists at the ice cream shop. But he also saved her by wanting to be her first friend. She was a little hurt that she let Vivi take that spot, before Sanji and Robin, but he was the one who gave her the idea that people genuinely did want to be her friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gripped onto her baton, and slid out of the cave, the man was not too far away, but he wasn’t facing her. She squeezed the center of the baton and it extended. She then released a cloud of fog from the weapon, and snuck around to where he was, before swinging her baton out, and shocking him with electricity. He was shocked, but he turned around, and swung his sword out. The only thing really protecting her was the fog she created. She was getting a little anxious, and she backed up away from him. She swung her baton, still creating more of the fog, hoping that she’d be able to surprise him by electrocution again. She was still panicking, this man put Luffy out, for ten minutes he said, but she figured he'd take longer than that to heal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man suddenly disappeared from her view, and she became worried he'd sneak up on her. She glanced around, frantically, holding her baton out, and forgetting to create a screen for herself. She backed herself into a tree, accidentally, and glanced around some more. He wasn’t anywhere, she noticed. “Sh-show yourself!” she yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You idiots,” she heard behind her, and she froze, “I’m Charlotte Cracker, one of the top generals of Mama, there’s no way, you amateurs can beat me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She slowly turned around to see the man dawned in his armour again, although it wasn’t cracked anymore. She wanted to scream, she wanted to call for Luffy, but she couldn’t voice anything. Nami took a few steps backwards, and tripped over a tree root, falling onto her butt. She looked up at Cracker, and she began to shake. He was holding his sword again, and this time, it was aiming for her instead of Luffy. Her eyes went wide, and she frantically shook her head, her lips voicing ‘no’ over and over again, but no words came out. She couldn’t even take her eyes off of him, as he aimed the sword to her heart. The baton rolled away from her a little, as she supported herself with her hands. She was going to die, she could see it. The fog she created still hadn’t cleared, and unlike the time today with the crocodile, there was no one there to save her, no one could probably even see her because of the screen she created with fog.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally, she was able to regain her voice as the sword began to descend, “Luffy! Help me!” she cried out, shutting her eyes in fear.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yes, yes, I know, quite the cliff-hanger I left you all at! You love me, so very much don't you?<br/>I'm gonna give you a little spoiler, if you want it: You'll be wondering what happens next for a little while.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0031"><h2>31. Independence</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami stood outside of a small cafe alone, she stared up at the sign, and internally groaned. She didn’t want to do this, but she didn’t really have a choice. She opened the door, the bell sounding, signalling the employees that there was a new customer. She glanced around the cafe, there was a black haired young boy in a white half apron yelling at two people in one of the booths. They were probably giving him a hard time on his first day of the job. She shrugged, and made her way to the backroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Someone tried to stop her, by grabbing a hold of her arm, “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” he asked, “That’s an employee restricted area.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh!” Nami replied, and feigned a shy smile, “it’s my first day on the job, I think I came late… Was I not supposed to enter through the front doors?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man let go of her wrist, “My bad, I’m sorry,” he said, “Didn’t know we hired two people recently.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, sir!” She smiled, and continued her way into the backroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She went into the locker room and grabbed an apron, before making her way to the front, and behind the register. She waited for someone to come up and pay, finding this part of her job the most boring. She internally wished she could just go back home to her mother and sister, but they’d be in deep trouble if she did.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Finally, the boy who was yelling ran off into the backroom, yelling at them, “Well, I’m not gonna be here long, it isn’t even my fault!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She paid it no mind, as a navy soldier and his date came up to the register to order and pay. She gulped, as she put on a fake smile, “Hello, how may I help you?” she asked. The man ordered and paid with cash. She opened the cash drawer to put the money in, but just handed him his change. Sliding her hand into her pocket without the camera’s, nor other employee’s notice. Finally, after a long day, and many discrete stuffing hands into her pockets, she watched as the last person in the cafe left, except the two people at the booth when she first entered. She glared at them, as she made her way back into the backroom, bumping into the boy in the apron.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You okay?” she heard, but walked passed him and into the locker room, not daring to look back. She took the money out of her pockets and stuffed it in the purse she had brought with her, before she hung the apron back up. She walked out of the cafe through the front doors and glanced around. The sun was just beginning to set, however, the bus wasn’t gonna come by for another hour, and she had to get out of there now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glanced around, and noticed a slick small car, that probably only fit four people, and she walked up to it. She noticed the keys were still in the car, even if they weren’t in the ignition as she peered into the windows. She pried open the door, with the burglary skills she’d used only way too often, to her dismay, and slipped into the car, closing the door after her. She was wrong, the car sat five people, she noticed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey!” a man with black hair, and sunglasses called, “That’s not your car!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, we’re supposed to be protecting that car!” Another man in a red headband called.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I’m sorry,” Nami said, rolling down the window, and peering up at them, “I never caught your names.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yosaku,” the one in the headband stated, folding his arm across his torso.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Johnny,” the other man stated, folding his opposite arm across his torso.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Johnny, Yosaku, I’m sorry but he didn’t tell you I was taking it to the shop?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, you were?” Johnny asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Absolutely,” Nami lied, with a sly smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, then, I’d better go in and tell big bro.” Yosaku started turning around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait here for us,” Johnny continued, and also turned around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami pulled out as soon as their backs were turned, “If we meet again, I’ll give it back!” she called, out the window before she rolled it up, and sped out of the parking lot, as a large military-esque vehicle pulled in, obviously old, and in need of repairs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami drove along the road, looking in her rear view mirrors occasionally, as she drove. “I just want to be free.” She stated, as she reached a stop light, and hugged her shoulders. Her tears were now streaming down her face. It made it a little difficult to see the road, but she managed. She pulled the car to a stop, a little ways away from the parking lot in front of her village. She got out, carrying the money in her purse as she made her way to the towering building that was in the far corner of the city she grew up in. She took the long way round, deciding not to actually walk through the city.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on out here, Arlong!” she saw a boy yelling at the entrance to the building, “I’m not afraid of you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get out of here.” she scolded the child, and he turned around.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who are you?” he yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said get out, unless you want to die.” she stated, sternly, her eyes without any life in them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah, and who do you think you are, witch?” he stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulled out her baton, and hit the child on the head, he whimpered in pain, and she sighed, “You’re no match for Arlong, idiot.” She walked past him and entered the building.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah! Nami!” She heard her boyfriend exclaim upon her entrance, “Where’ve you been?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know, here and there,” she smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You were gone a little bit longer than before.” he said, sternly, and suspiciously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just had a little bit more business to take care of, Arlong.” she smirked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, come on, Baby,” he stated, and stood up, wrapping a strong muscled arm around her shoulders, “Enjoy the party with us!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’d love to!” she smiled, although she internally wanted to run away from him and never come back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the party of her ‘return’ as they called it progressed, she heard that someone unknown to the island had come onto it. She stood up, and made her exit, using the excuse of ‘I need some relaxation time’ to get out. Her boyfriend sent her suspicious glares, and his three best friends did the same. She gathered some flowers from the garden just outside of the building, and made her way into the main part of the city. The group of people that were gathered all dispersed, on her entrance, and she sighed. There were only two people still there, her sister, and Gen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She passed them, and made her way to the hospital on the other end. She entered the building, and made her way into one of the patients rooms, Nojiko following her. Nami placed the flowers down beside the woman in a coma. “Hi, mom.” she smiled, tears threatening to spill, but she held them in, as she had done since she started dating her boyfriend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You never go on the main road,” Nojiko said behind her, “Did something happen?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I almost have enough, though, Nojiko, and then we’ll finally be free from him.” Nami smiled, lifting her face from the bed, as it looked lovingly at her mother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” she heard Nojiko murmur, before the light sound of her sandals left the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami returned to the building to be met with chaos. She glanced around, and Alrong’s three best friends were holding a man with black sunglasses and a long nose by the throat, “What’s going on?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Nami!” one of Arlong’s friends said, holding up the man, “are you the one who dragged these guys here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What, come on, you know I’d never betray you. I made sure of that a year ago when I joined you guys.” She stated, smirking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just want his car back!” the man being held yelled at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then take it, I don’t care.” she said to him, smirking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know why, but he wants to be-” he was cut off by the friend of her boyfriend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, can you explain why this man is here?” the man asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Psh, he probably just followed because he’s a stupid loser hoping for some extra cash.” She laughed, in which the gang of Arlong joined her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man struggled free, and backed up, by the edge of the lake that lined one side of Cocoyashi, “I’m not gonna hold back anymore!” he yelled as his legs shook. He held out a slingshot to defend himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami ran toward him, as he threw down a smoke screen. The idiot, she thought to herself, and slipped behind him. He turned around, as if to escape through the lake and was met with her stern glare. She ran up, approaching him, the smoke cleared, and she stabbed him. Blood splattered across the ground, and over both of their clothes, “don’t interfere with my business, got it?” she whispered to him, before pulling the knife out, and saying louder, “Now go ahead and drown.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man fell forward, and collapsed into the water, sinking, it appeared. The crowd of people surrounding her stared at her, before cheering. Saying she was as devilish as she had ever been. They kept cheering her on, as she walked past them, and into the building again. She made her way to the top floor, and into the cartography room, where she grabbed a few bandages, and wrapped her bleeding hand. She slipped on a black glove, before making her way out of the building and to the home in the center of a grove of orange trees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She opened the door, and glanced around, everything in its place, and it pissed her off. She grabbed at a vase, and threw it through a window. Both the vase and the glass shattered. She tossed everything neatly laid out on the table to the ground. Everything was going smoothly, wasn’t it? Everything had been going alright? So why did that idiot have to show up and ruin everything? She wondered. Why did he have to barge in, asking about that stupid car that she used just to get away from the cafe? She collapsed herself in a chair, and held her head with her hands. Her elbows rested on the table. She had her first map laid out in front of her, and her eyes were sore from holding in all of the pain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The door opened and Nojiko stepped in, “Geeze, Nami, don’t make a mess of the place,” she stated, before setting down her basket of oranges, and making her way to the table. She pulled off her gloves, and her apron, and fixed a chair before sitting down, “You promised you’d tell me everything, right?” she asked. Nami remained silent, “Was it the intruders?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami hung her head, her hands now resting on her neck, as her short orange hair sprawled out on the table. She wanted this all to end. She wanted to get rid of all of the pain. It all started only eight years ago, when her mother began getting sick. They weren’t getting enough income on the orange trees, Nami could tell. She might have only been twelve at the time, but seeing her mother eat orange after orange every day, worried her. She still got the clothes Nojiko couldn’t fit in anymore, and she’d have to sneak books from the book store just to read. However, she was happy that Bellamere was her mother. She was happy that she was able to have such a caring mother. Sure, she had gotten into a couple fights about how she wasn’t her real mother, but nothing too major.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was six years later that Arlong came into their small city. He barged in, claiming money for their lives. Nami and Nojiko were lucky enough to not have been known, as their births weren’t in the records. It wasn’t even official that they were Bellamere’s children. Arlong had nearly left, too, before someone said they saw a house in the midst of the orange trees. Nami ran as far as she could to that little house. She was eighteen, and a legal adult now, but she was still without a job. So was Nojiko, which meant that their poor and sickly, yet spirited mother had to pay for their lives as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She made her way to the back door of the house, before the city’s best doctor stopped them, “If you show yourselves now, she’ll die.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Nami asked, “No, that doesn’t even make sense. She’s my mother, I have to take care of her!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nojiko agreed, “I don’t care, I want her to live as well!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“All three of you will be able to live if you just get out of the city! Leave, go somewhere that he’ll never find you!” the doctor yelled at them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I won’t.” Nami yelled as Nojiko began to agree with the doctor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They heard a crash, and Nami’s eyes widened, she rushed over with Nojiko to the front of the house, to see Arlong holding their mother by the head, squeezing at her skull.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bellamere!” they both yelled, and rushed to help her out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Arlong let go, and looked over at the young adults approaching, “I hadn’t seen these two.” he stated, “How much you gotta pay now?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’d be one thousand five hundred.” a man with white, spiky hair, Hachi, stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You got the money, woman?” Arlong asked, as he knelt down to inspect her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bellamere, do you have enough?” Gen asked, who Nami and Nojiko noticed for the first time. They held onto their mother, in hopes that she was alive, and she was, but she was unconscious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Search the house.” Arlong commanded, and Hachi went inside, and made a ruckus.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nojiko chased after him, emerging in his grip, as he held a bag of their savings, and a stack of maps that Nami had made. Because they sold oranges for a living, all of their money they had was in cash. Nami’s eyes widened, “Nojiko!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They’ve only got one thousand.” Hachi stated, smugly, “But I found these well drawn maps.” he stated, holding up the precious creations Nami treasured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! Those are mine!” she yelled, only to be held by the mouth from Arlong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, so you're the one who drew these?” he asked, he turned to the group of people behind him, “Imagine how much we could make off this woman! We’ve got a natural born cartographer on our hands!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do we do with these two?” one of Arlong’s friends asked, gesturing to Nami’s sister and mother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ll take the girl and the maps,” Arlong stated, “they paid one thousand, they can live.” he stated, shrugging, and walking off, still holding Nami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a year later that Nami returned to the city, Gen and Nojiko immediately rushed out to her, holding her and asking where she’d been and if she were okay, failing to notice Arlong’s presence only thirteen yards away, observing. Nami sighed, her fear bellowing in her chest, as tears began to fall down her face. She shakily held up the money she had in her pocket, like some greedy child, “Look how much money, I have.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” Nojiko shouted, “Where’d you get that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Arlong,” Nami replied, dropping her eyes, before lifting them with a smile, her tears no longer flowing as they began to dry on her cheeks, “I thought I should tell you I’m dating him now.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” Gen and Nojiko yelled, as she received a slap to her face from her sister.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean, you’re dating him, Nami?” Gen asked, “Your mother is in a coma! She’s been in a coma for a year, and he’s the one who caused it! Did you not love Bellamere at all?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s eyes threatened to release tears, “But it’s true! I’m dating Arlong now! Look!” she yelled pulling up the sleeve to her shirt, “We even have matching tattoos!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Leave, Nami.” Gen stated, turning his back to her, as the rest of the city began to disperse back into their homes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami fell to the ground, Nojiko the only one with her, as Arlong smirked from his distance, “Nami?” Nojiko asked, kneeling down beside her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not gonna cry, Nojiko.” she stated, wanting to hug her sister, and tell her everything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Everytime I see him I’m gonna smile.” she stated, shaking, “I’m gonna save you guys.” She lifted her head to her sister, “Arlong’s a sucker for money, we made a deal, and I can save you guys if I get one million dollars.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, that’s impossible.” Nojiko stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I know, but I’m gonna do it, I promise, Nojiko, I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna help you all out.” Nami stated, before Arlong approached her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami, let me help!” Nojiko yelled, as her sister’s arm was pulled upward by the new boyfriend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami was dragged off, and Nojiko hadn’t even seen her until eight months later. Nami stashed one hundred thousand dollars in a box under an orange tree. Nojiko joined her, a tattoo now plastered across her shoulder as well, “You’re not alone, Nami.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked up at her, and smiled, “I only need nine hundred thousand more to go, and it should be easier now that Arlong’s letting me leave on my own now.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ah, yes, you thought you'd get a hold of what were to happen next with her battle with Cracker, but little did you know you were in for her past!!! And now I give you two cliffhangers! Because I'm just that generous! You should be thanking me! Go on! Go on!<br/>I'm joking. You don't have to thank me for the cliff-hangers, but, I would like to know your thoughts on the sudden flashback.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0032"><h2>32. Help Me!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami opened her eyes, “I only need one hundred thousand more,” she murmured, before noticing she had fallen asleep, and her sister was no longer in the room. “One hundred thousand, and then I can save you,” she stated, stretching her arms. “I can probably get it all in one go, now.” she stated, as she made her way out of her home, only to be met by a group of police officers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cat Burglar Nami,” the leading officer stated, “I hear you're a thief.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Nami asked as she looked among them, “Gen?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, we aren’t gonna take you, but to get the money you’ve stolen.” the officer stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Nami yelled, “This whole town is under the control of a terrorist vigilante! And you’re here worried about a pitiful thief!” Nami yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Search the place for the money.” the officer stated, as his men began to push around the orange trees.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” she yelled, “Don’t touch those!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How much are we looking for?” one of the men asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think it should be somewhere around one million dollars.” the leading officer smirked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s eyes widened, “What?” she asked, “How’d you know?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This orange orchard looks suspicious, sir.” one of the men stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Tear it up!” the officer smirked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Nami yelled, “You can’t take that money! You can’t have it! That money is for-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That money is to save Cocoyashi! You can’t have the money!” Gen yelled, and Nami froze.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How did you-” she began.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’ve always known, Nami, we all have, the whole city has known.” he stated, “but we thought that if we had kept quiet, then you would be able to leave any time, and you wouldn’t have us burdening you any longer.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Shut this bitch up!” the officer yelled, as one of his men aimed a gun at Nami.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, don’t shoot her!” Gen yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the gun was fired. Nami’s eyes went wide as she watched the blood fall to the ground in front of her. She bent to the ground, “Nojiko!” she cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami and other citizens gathered around Nojiko as they brought her out of the orchard of messed up orange trees. The money Nami hid was already found by the officer now. Nami had failed to notice the man in black sunglasses and straw hat under the shade of an umbrella at a table in front of a small restaurant. She hugged her sister, who luckily wasn’t shot in any fatal places. Nami stared at the blood that was now beginning to soak the bandage the doctor was wrapping around her sister. The money was gone. The officer knew how much she should have. He knew where she was hiding it. There was only one person that could have told the man, “Arlong!” she cried, and stormed off in the direction of the towering building.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She slammed open the doors, “Arlong!” she yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah, Nami, it’s good to see you again!” he stated, smirking.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know exactly what you did!” she yelled!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, and what did I do, sugar?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You had the police you bribed steal my money!” she yelled at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You broke our promise! You bastard!” She yelled at him, grabbing at his collar.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” he asked, slamming his strong hand to her mouth, shutting her up, as her tears were beginning to fall, “And when did I break our promise? So your money was stolen, is that what happened?” he asked, before shoving her away, “That’s too bad, you’ll just have to go ahead and restart your savings.” he threw a wad of cash at her, “here, I’ll give you a headstart.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The money fell to the ground, as Nami stormed out of the place. She ran back to the main part of the town. She slowed to a walk, on seeing the people gathered there, and wiped her eyes, “Guys!” she called, “It’s okay! Don’t worry, I’ll just save up the money again, it’s no problem!” she finally reached them, and noticed they were carrying weapons that Arlong had forbidden in the area, “It’ll be quicker this time, because I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami.” Gen stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you guys doing?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We vowed that we would stay here and not fight him, not provoke him as long as you were happy.” Gen explained, “But that isn’t the case anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? What are you saying?” The twenty-year old asked, before she backed away from them slightly and pulled out the knife she had stabbed her own hand with, “Stay back! Don’t go!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” Gen yelled, grabbing the knife with his hand, “Get out of the way!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s grip on the weapon was weakened, and Gen let go, the knife clattering onto the pavement. The crowd of citizens ran past her, led by her lone father-figure. Her body crumbled, and her knees gave out. They were far out of sight now, and she collapsed herself onto the ground. She glanced over to her shoulder, the tattoo she had gotten standing out even more now than it had been before. She gripped her shoulder, her nails scratching her skin, “Arlong!” She cried, wishing for him to die.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami grabbed at the knife that was laying before her, and stabbed her shoulder with it, “Arlong!” she cried, as she pulled the knife out, and stabbed her shoulder again. Each time wanting his death to come faster and faster. She wanted to kill him, she wanted to get rid of him. She wished he was never born. “Arlong! Arlong! Arlong!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She pulled the knife out again, and as she brought it down to stab herself again, a hand grabbed hers, and she glanced up, though her eyes were blurry. The man she didn’t recognize, and her arm became weak, as the knife clattered to the ground again, and he released her hand. She gripped at the sand dusting the pavement with her hands, her tears now wanting to fall out of her eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t even know me.” she stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s right, I don't,” he replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t even know what’s going on.” she murmured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re right, I don’t,” he said again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So why are you even here?” she asked, and threw the sand in her fists behind her as it dusted his shins. Exposed since he was wearing shorts. “Go away! Go away!” she cried, before bringing her hands to her mouth. Her tears were pouring like waterfalls down her cheeks. She glanced over at him, his face not even visible, but he looked trustworthy, “Help me,” her weak voice stated, as her tears dripped down onto her shoulder, not stopping.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He reached a hand up to the hat on his head, and placed it firmly on her own, before walking past her, and yelling up to the sky, “Of course I will!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s eyes went wide. She could only see his back, but he seemed so confident that he would win. She gripped the hat on her head, and cried some more. She didn’t know why, but she felt special, somehow. She felt like she could finally be free from this wretched man. She watched as the man walked forward, and up to two men waiting in the shade for him. One carried a sword, and the other was the man she had stabbed. “Let’s go.” she heard him say, as she watched them disappear in the direction the citizens of the city had run.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually Nami made it over to a bench and grabbed some of the bandages still sitting there to wrap up the bleeding shoulder she had. It was a little difficult to do, because she only had one hand to do it, but she managed. After she had bit off the fabric, she rose to her feet and grabbed her baton. “Arlong is strong,” she murmured, to herself as she ran off, “I have to help them, somehow, or else they’re gonna die!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She reached the building, and was in awe of what she had seen. Sure, the man with the sword was struggling to stand as he had a wound that looked as if it had reopened stretched across his chest. The man with the long nose was hiding off to the side, holding up his slingshot as back up, and the man she had asked for help was in an even match, it seemed like, with the muscular Arlong. How? She wondered, in comparison, Arlong was much more muscular, but this boy, this child, was evenly matching the man. Sure, he was a little beat up, but it looked more like an even match than anything else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gasped when she saw him jump onto the building, holdin onto the railing around the windows. They were in the backyard of the building, and everyone was at the fence watching. Not a single citizen had gotten involved, it appeared. The boy in the sunglasses leaped like a money up onto the next railing as Arlong grabbed out his multi-bladed sword and used it as leverage to catch up to the monkey-like man. The boy reached the top floor, and crashed through the windows by Arlong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She gasped, the room they were now in, was her room. It was the room she would stay to create the maps they would pawn off her. She would never get any of the profit for her works, and she never knew what they even did with it. But then she saw her desk. The desk she would spend hours upon hours upon hours in a day working on maps fly out of the wall. The wall was broken, and the desk was cracked as it fell the whole five stories down onto the pavement just along the lake. It shattered, it’s wood flying in all sorts of directions. Next came papers. Papers upon papers, upon papers of maps. They fluttered down like snow. Seeing them made her feel free like the wind they were riding on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard a scream, and she looked anxiously at the fifth floor. Soon, she saw more windows begin to shatter. Windows along all of the floors began to shatter, and the beams began to be unstable. People began backing away from the building as she watched it crumble to the ground in a pile of rubble. She glanced around, searching for the man who saved her. One of his friends, or helpers was standing now, the sunglasses hiding his face, as he wore a black bandana over his hair, as if to cover it’s strange color. He was staring at the rubble with a smirk on his face, and the other man seemed quite pleased as well. Though his eyebrows were etched in worry over the sunglasses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked around as she heard the rubble moving, she was scared it was Arlong, she was scared he was coming out to seek his revenge on her. She began to back up, before she saw the black hair push through the rubble. She couldn’t see his face as the broken sunglasses still covered a decent amount of it, but he looked like he was looking straight at her. His head was dropped since he was beat up, and exhausted. But he still managed to say some of the most welcoming, and heart-warming words she had ever heard to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s be friends!” he yelled, before stumbling forward, catching his balance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tears welled up in Nami’s eyes, as she nodded. She lifted the hat off her head, and made her way closer to the rubble of what used to be Arlong’s abode, her prison cell. Her feet stumbled, and the hat flew on the wind from her grasp. It was caught by the swordsman, as he glanced over to the road, police cars beginning to drive closer to the mess.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We gotta go, Straw Hat!” the swordsman yelled as he and the long-nosed man ran up the rubble much faster than Nami could, and gripped the shoulder of her savior before he tumbled over. The man, Straw Hat, it seemed, nodded, and accepted his hat back onto his head. He glanced back at Nami, and she could have sworn she saw a smile, before he ran down the otherside of the rubble, and they made a mad dash to the vehicle she had stolen. So it was their car? She wondered. Nojiko told her later that she had run into them, and tried to get them to leave, but to no avail. Nami was grateful, this man had saved her, she wanted to know who he was, she wanted to meet him face to face, and ask for his name. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and thank him a million times over for saving her and her family, her city.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then she did. She had wrapped her arms around his sleeping form, and ran out to help him buy some time. But here she was, in the nick of death, as she called out his name, the name she had only found out was his a few minutes ago, though she met him two years ago. She saw the sword approaching her, and she squeezed her eyes shut, “Luffy! Help me!”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And now we have finished the flashback and are back to the previous cliff hanger, your welcome.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0033"><h2>33. Crackers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm sorry! I know the title is a bad pun on the chapter, it just seemed to fit, I apologize! I'm sorry!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>She heard the sound of skin hitting skin, and heard feet stumble across the ground, as metal hit the dirt and rocks. The sword didn’t peirce her skin, there was no wound bleeding, no blood gushing out of her like a broken fountain. Nami hesitantly opened her eyes, scared to see if it was a savior or another person to kill her. Her eyes widened, and she noticed the black hair of the man she had hugged not long ago. If she had any suspicions about if he had been her savior from Arlong over two years ago, they vanished as she looked up at his back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The memories vivid in her mind from all that had happened only made that appearance more obvious. She could see it, she could see him, he had come to save her once again. He saved her before, and he saved her again. He saved her from the knife she stabbed into her shoulder time and time again, and he saved her from the sword aimed to peirce her heart. His muscles were flexed, and the wind blew his hair, wet with recent sweat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It hadn’t been ten minutes yet, he shouldn’t be up. He was sleeping, he’s just gonna hurt himself. He can’t fight in this condition, there’s no way. He has to go back, he has to go back and rest. There was still blood on his body, not even dried yet. She hesitantly got up to her feet as he glared at the man coming back to his conscience. Her fingers reached for the edge of his shirt, and once it was in her grasp she pulled it toward her chest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! Stop!” she cried, she didn’t want him to hurt himself further. Yes he was a vigilante, yes she despised vigilantes, but he was different. She could tell. She had rushed out to save him, she reminded herself, as she leaned her head against his back, “Don’t hurt yourself, Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami,” he said, his voice stern, “Let go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His stern response caused her to lift her head, “Luffy, you’ll die!” she cried, “I can’t let you die, Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” he yelled as the man came rushing toward them, “I said, ‘Let go!’” as the man aimed his sword once again, Luffy turned around and pushed Nami to the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her back hit the ground as she saw one of his hands grip at the sword before it stabbed through him. His face was focused, sweat rolling down his forehead. The sunglasses he had worn were gone, as his eyes stared down at the ground, his lips in a frown, his brows furrowed. Blood dripped down his arm and onto the white fabric of his shirt. “Lu-” she began, reaching up to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” he said, closing his eyes, as he yelled, “Run!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He turned around and punched the man across the face, the sword unmoving from his grip. Nami clambered to her feet, and glanced back as she ran off, deeper into the woods, worry stretched across her features, she didn’t know what she was supposed to do. The sun was probably setting, though she couldn’t tell through the thick trees. She had lost her weapon somewhere along the way, and now all she could hear besides her beating heart, was her own footsteps and heavy breathing. She couldn’t even hear their fight any longer. She didn’t want him to die! She wanted him to live! Why had she gotten herself so mixed up in messes, as if being the heroine of some action novel!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stopped to catch her own breath, she couldn’t run anymore, her legs were tired and they felt like they would collapse if she took another step. She leaned against a nearby tree, huffing as she began to worry about Luffy. She glanced back in the direction she had come, but it was no use, they couldn’t be seen or heard. She was scared, she still had his blood stained on her, but she wanted to help. He was her neighbor, her savior, her friend, of course she would want to risk her life for him, right? She took a deep breath before closing her eyes, she could rest here for a little while, right? She still needed to find Chopper and Carrot, but they were nowhere to be seen. That wicked witch-like woman had taken them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sound of crashing branches panged her ears, and she opened her eyes, and glanced around nervously in the direction they possibly came from. She heard the branches rustling above her, and she looked up, before some broke, and a body came crashing onto the ground before her. The black hair sticking to his face, as his bare chest heaved. He had cuts layering his body, and bruises blanketing him. She couldn’t even stand to her feet to rush over to him, but she wondered how he had gotten into the tree.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” She exclaimed, “Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The black haired man turned his head to face her, before groaning, “I’m fine, just hungry.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You need food?” Nami asked, before glancing around her, not even seeing a fruit tree anywhere.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” Luffy replied, before rolling over onto his stomach, and bending his knees and elbows as he glared down at the ground, “why am I not strong enough.” he mumbled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think there’s a fruit tree a little further back,” she stammered out, before another being came crashing through the branches.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy got to his feet, and kicked the sword away from Cracker, before using the same leg to kick him in the face. From all angles, Luffy was losing, and she had no idea what was going to come next, but, surely, surely, he’d be able to manage, he’d be able to make it through. She got her feet, legs wobbling, still not strong enough to hold her, and she ran back in the direction she had come, stumbling and tripping, “I’ll get you something, Luffy,” she muttered as she tripped over trunks, and pebbles.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Even though her feet were sore, her legs ached, and she was trapped in this dark, mysterious, creepy forest, she found a tree with fruit she knew to be edible. As she was picking the fruit, she heard the clashing of metal against skin and she freaked, “Luffy!” Her arms were full of fruit, so she couldn’t exactly run back to him without the fruits falling out of her arms. She watched as the scene somehow looked like it was coming closer to her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy skidded backwards, hopping over a tree limb in the process, before yelling behind him to Nami, “Nami!” he bent down, in a fighting stance, his fist against the ground, as he glared at the oppressor, “Run!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Nami yelled back at him, throwing one of the fruits she collected at his head. It missed, but she noticed it roll under his legs, and make contact with the fist on the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” He yelled again, this time more serious, before his head turned to face her, slightly, since still facing forward, and she could almost see a smile on his lips, before he turned back to the enemy. She saw his hand grab the fruit, and bring it to his mouth, as Cracker charged the tip of his sword at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy sprung backwards, and landed beside her, “Thanks,” he said, the juice of the fruit still on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you need more?” Nami asked, gesturing to her full arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy glanced over at her arms, before grabbing two in each of his hands, and stuffing them in his mouth. He then charged to Cracker, and Nami flinched as she saw blood spray. But it wasn’t Luffy’s, to her relief. Luffy’s fist met with the armour that Cracker deemed on, and the sword grazed Luffy’s shoulder, though if her neighbor’s head wasn’t facing downward, the sword would have gone straight through his skull. She flinched at the thought, and a fruit fell out of her arms. Before she could comprehend what was happening, Cracker was on the defense.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy’s other fist met with where his first fist landed, and he pulled them back and forced them forward one after the other, because of how close Luffy was to the man, he couldn’t bring his sword up to block the fists, and his armour was shattered, the metal poking into his skin as the fists kept flying at him. He was nearly immobile, every time he’d move a muscle, a fist punched him in that very spot. Luffy didn’t stop, his own blood was gushing out of his wounds as he continued to punch the attacker. He screamed in the process and caused the man to fly away from him, the forces of his punches much more than what his lean body appeared to be capable of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cracker was now unconscious, and Luffy was heaving as his head hung low, and the blood dripped to his fingers. He turned his head to smile at Nami, before falling face first onto the ground. Nami rushed over to him, dropping the fruits in her arms. She laid two fingers against his neck, and sighed with relief. He was still alive. She lifted up his body, and rested against her own, she couldn’t necessarily see the exit of the forest, but decided if she kept walking she’d find it, eventually. She began making her way, away from Cracker’s unconscious body, but not back the direction she had run.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She stumbled along the roots on the ground, as Luffy’s sandaled feet dragged behind her. His head fell beside her shoulder, as she held one arm about her neck, and her other arm was wrapped behind his back, holding onto his torso. She tripped a few times, but caught herself. There was nothing around that made her think of which way to go, in order to leave the trap they stumbled into. She leaned up against a tree to rest, bringing Luffy’s arm back over her shoulder and to her side. He fell onto her shoulder, and she stiffened, before noticing he was just asleep still. She brought a hand up, and ruffled with his sweaty hair. She smiled, as his breathing soothed her. He was still alive, she was still alive. She looked behind him at the straw hat clinging to his sweaty, and bloody body. She leaned backwards a bit so she could get a better look at it, and he fell further. His cheek made contact with her thigh, and his hair began sticking to her legs. She let out a light gasp, before resting a hand onto his head, and running her fingers through his hair, the hat against his back was forgotten for the moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She woke up, and glanced around her, Luffy still sleeping on her lap, clearly exhausted, she thought to herself. She pulled his heavy body off of her, and wrapped one arm about her neck again, before lifting him up, and continuing on their journey. Finally, she saw the light outside of the forest, the cave-like forest, and fell to her knees on the soft grass of the clearing. A giant castle was seen a distance away, but she was so relieved to be out of the forest. She glanced over at Luffy, who she had dropped, his face smashed into the dirt. She nudged him with her hand, before flipping him over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His eyes were closed, and he was breathing rather deeply, she wiped the dirt and grass off his still sweaty face, and the hair of his forehead. He was now laying on top of his straw hat, the white string that attached it to his body loosely clinging about his neck. She looked back up, and noticed a small procession coming their way in the distance. She rose to her feet, and squinted at the coming figures. A couple of horses, a parade of men, a black limo, though the windows weren’t tinted. She was too focused on the figures inside the limo, trying to figure out who they were, that she didn’t notice Luffy rising to his feet behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that Sanji?” he asked, and she glanced over at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know,” she replied, looking back at the procession, “Wait! You should be resting!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on!” he exclaimed, “Let’s go see if it’s Sanji!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If it’s not, what are we supposed to do?” Nami cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, fight them?” Luffy answered, before stumbling down the hill.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami followed, but a little more careful. She ran after the black haired neighbor of hers, and upon coming closer she recognized the people that were in the procession, in the limo. There was a pink haired girl, the one that had saved Luffy, and there was that skeptical green haired man furthest from them, and a blond man between him and a blue haired man with sunglasses.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji!” Luffy yelled, and Nami rushed after him, though not being able to keep up with his speed. “Sanji!” Luffy yelled again, “We’re here to get you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami smiled, the blond man was Sanji, “Sanji-kun!” she cried with relief that he was okay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy jumped onto the moving vehicle, luckily one of the rear windows was open, so his arms clung to the door, “Hey, Sanji!” he smiled, ignoring the people beside him and in front of him, “We came here to get you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun!” Nami cried, waving her arm at him, though he surprised her with his next action. Nami gasped, dropping her arm, and halting her footsteps, “Luffy!” she yelled.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hehe, (insert maniacal laughter here) you have been blessed with another perfect cliff-hanger!</p><p>If you don't know by know, cliff-hangers are kinda my thing. I love to abruptly end the chapter, where you have no idea if what happens next is a good thing of a bad thing! I love it! Though, I admit, that not all of the chapters have these beautiful abrupt endings that just make my heart flutter at the thought of my readers desperately anticipating the next chapter! I love it! I love it! I love it! Yassssss!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0034"><h2>34. Attacked</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>WARNING: Blood is spilled. Violence.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Luffy was flung backwards and landed on his back in the grass, he looked up from his position, holding his nose. Nami stared at the man who kicked him, it didn’t make sense. Last time she had seen him he was smiling, saying he would be alright, last time she had seen Luffy and him together, they were playfully bickering about food. Luffy said they were friends, he acted like he trusted him, so why. Why did Sanji kick him?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji?” Luffy questioned, looking up at the owner of the shoe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Get lost.” Sanji replied, his face stern.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun!” Nami cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji, what are you talking about?” Luffy asked, as he stood on his feet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said get lost, loser.” Sanji frowned, “I’m a prince, and all you are is a stupid low-life scum. Why should I, of high-importance, be even acquainted with a man who hides his very identity?” the brothers behind him started chuckling to themselves, “So I said get lost, you stupid, idiotic, cowardly, childish, naive, gullible, scrawny, low-life scum of a man, I never want to see that obnoxious smile of yours again.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji,” Luffy stated, frowning, “What are you talking about? We came here to get you, we came here to save you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I don’t need your stupid pity, your annoying sympathy, your naive hero acts. I have power right here, I don’t need to be following you around anymore.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun!” Nami cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So get your shitty self away from my being.” Sanji scoffed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Luffy replied, frowning.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Want me to take care of him?” the blue haired man asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I’ve got this,” Sanji replied, and stepped away from the vehicle, to meet Luffy, “I said go away!” he yelled, before kicking Luffy again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Luffy replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji lifted his leg again, “I was only with you because I needed power,” he kicked Luffy’s gut, “but now I have that power,” he swung his other leg around, “so I don’t need,” he kicked the black haired man’s rib cage, “a gullible leader like you,” he flipped onto his hands, “to be telling me what to do!” he swung his legs up kicking Luffy in the jaw.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun! Stop!” Nami cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So get your lousy self away from here!” Sanji yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Luffy yelled back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stubborn bastard!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not leaving!” Luffy yelled, holding his ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji swung his leg at Luffy, and kicked his face, so he stumbled over, but stood up again, “Fight back!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun, stop!” Nami cried, “It’s alright! We’ll leave!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not gonna fight back!” Luffy yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then get your sorry ass away from me!” Sanji yelled, before kicking Luffy’s jaw again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun! Stop! Luffy’s been fighting all night!” Nami yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not gonna leave you!” Luffy yelled back, studying himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then lift your fist and fight me!” Sanji cried, before jumping in the air and landing a blow to Luffy’s skull.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why would I fight you!” Luffy yelled, blood spurting out of his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tears were streaming down Nami’s face, “Sanji-kun, stop!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji swung a few more kicks to Luffy, his opponent wasn’t even defending himself, let alone attacking. Luffy looked like a punching back, being kicked to shreds. Blood was spilling out of wounds from Cracker, and Nami could have sworn she saw his tooth fly out. The tears were streaming down her face as she watched her friend of two years beat the crap out of her savior from two years ago. Luffy wasn’t fighting back, she desperately wanted him to but he didn’t do a thing, he didn’t lift a finger against Sanji. It hurt her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun! Stop!” she cried, “Luffy hasn’t eaten at all today! He’s exhausted, please! Stop!” she was nearly choking on her words as they fell out of her mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji,” Luffy said before he was kicked in the gut, “I’m not...” the shoulder, “gonna...” the head, “fight you.” The face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji, stop!” Nami cried, as Sanji backed up away from Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just leave already! I don’t want you here! I don’t want your crew here! I don’t want your friends here! I want you to leave me alone!” Sanji yelled before jumping to get a good pressure on his kick.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji-kun! Stop! We’ll leave! I promise! Just don’t hurt him anymore!” Nami cried, the tears on her face appearing never ending. Her eyes were red from crying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not gonna leave!” Luffy yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go away!” Sanji screamed simultaneously to Luffy’s yell. His heel collided with the top of Luffy’s head, and while the black haired man stood his ground for a moment, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed, face first onto the dirt, the blood lost now pooling around him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Nami yelled, running over to the unconscious man, she crouched beside him, as Sanji started walking back to the limo. “Luffy!” she shook the man’s shoulders, “Come on! Get up!” he wasn’t budging, “Luffy…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She shook her head, in tears, her eyes wide, disbelieving what was going on. Her friend had knocked out her friend. His friend had just knocked him out. Sanji, who was smiling, happy, cheerful when they were on Zou, just knocked out the very man he was following with respect. Friends don’t do that, she told herself. Friends don’t hurt their friends. She lifted her head from Luffy, and looked at Sanji’s retreating back. He was now about half the distance to his parked vehicle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji.” she stated, sternly, causing the blond to turn and face her, she raised her hand, and slapped him across the face, “I will never forgive you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji stared at the ground, before turning around, letting Nami run back to the unconscious man he had knocked out. He got back into the limo, and they began to drive away. Nami bent down over Luffy’s figure, “Luffy, wake up,” she murmured.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy stretched, and forced himself to a standing position.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Nami exclaimed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji!” Luffy yelled, “You can kick me, and hurt me all you want! But I’m not the one feeling the pain! You’re the one feeling the pain! I’m gonna stay here! I’m gonna wait for you! I’m not gonna leave this spot until you come! I’m not gonna eat any cooking, any food besides yours! If you don’t come, I’m gonna starve to death!” he took a breath in, “Without you, Sanji! I cannot become the man I promised to be!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami cried, she collapsed herself on the ground, “Luffy,” she mumbled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy stood heaving, as he was trying to stay conscious. The limo disappeared out of view, and he still stood there, as if waiting for the black car to turn around. It didn’t, it just kept going. Finally his legs gave out, and he collapsed onto his back on the ground, still heaving. Nami pulled her knees to her chest, and stared at him. He was so caring, it was no wonder that she had fallen for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt the wind change, and she glanced up at the sky, “It’s gonna rain.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is that food?” Luffy asked, and she heard his stomach grumble.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It has salt in it,” she reasoned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see.” Luffy answered, not even looking at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you really going to just stay here, Luffy?” Nami asked, looking down at the black haired man, “Sanji isn’t coming back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t know that!” Luffy answered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy…” She hung her head on her knees, and clutched her hands together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is salt food?” Luffy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She would have laughed had the circumstances been different, but she didn’t, she frowned, as she raised her head to him, “Yes, but Luffy, you need to eat!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt a raindrop hit her cheek, she noticed them falling much heavier, and she glanced at Luffy. The black haired neighbor of hers turned onto his belly, “I’m only going to eat Sanji’s food!” he yelled into the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Nami exclaimed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She heard footsteps, an army of footsteps approaching from the distance, and she looked down at the man before her. Based on Cracker’s hate toward them, and that wretched man’s desire to kill them, she crawled over to the man on the ground. She pushed on his shoulders, “Luffy, we need to get out of here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m staying right here, Nami! I promised Sanji I’d stay right here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“At least wait in the coverage of the woods! We’re out in the open here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m staying right here!” Luffy yelled back at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” she glanced up in the direction the army was coming, “Don’t you hear them coming?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course I do, Nami!” Luffy yelled, “But I’m waiting for Sanji right here!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you really not going to eat anything?” Nami asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy frowned, before sitting up, and facing the direction she kept glancing in, “Nami, go hide.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should, too! There’s no possible way you can beat that many people alone!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami! I’m staying right here! So be quiet!” Luffy yelled at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She glanced over to the sound of approaching footsteps, “I can see them, Luffy, you should hide! You’re injured! You need to heal!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am waiting right here, Nami! Stop trying to get me to leave!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But in your condition, Luffy… In your condition, you are going to die!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The army heard was now in clear view, and more started to appear on the sides, showing more and more soldiers trapping them in the center. A few of the smaller soldiers made their way to Luffy, and Nami gripped at the baton she held under her skirt. She glanced around, she had to get out of there. She ran toward one of the only minor openings in the army, but halted as she saw them coming closer to her. She backed up a little, before glancing behind her at the black haired injured man. Luffy was punching them down left and right, and it amazed her at how badly he got beaten by Sanji, if he could do things like this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Larger men came charging at Luffy, and he stood his ground, he didn’t move from the spot he was as he barrelled his way through the crowd of soldiers. Some looked like they were top ranking, as he managed to knock the lesser ranked ones out one by one. If he wasn’t as badly beaten as he was, they probably wouldn’t stand a chance, but he was. He was injured from head to toe, and bleeding, too. She noticed a bunch of them heading his way, and tripped one of her attackers over before kicking him to the feet of another. Much to her surprise, he strategy worked, and they ended up falling over like dominoes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her victory was short-lived though, because soon after she had tripped that set, new attackers had come towards her. She turned around, and ran toward Luffy, before noticing he was in some sort of a daze. She froze, it scared her, his eyes seemed to have been glossed over, as he continued to get punched left and right, as if his enemies were cats playing with a ball of yarn. She felt someone grip her shoulder, and she glanced behind her to notice a red haired lady in a tight black dress and feathered boa. She held Nami’s hands behind her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You think you can just get away with knocking our men out like that?” the woman asked, her golden eyes looked more intimidating than mesmerizing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A long necked woman with a large hat, and mild expression approached her, before drawing out her long sword, and pointing it to her throat, “you annoy me.” she said in a monotone voice, her cigarette shifting to the other side of her plump lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Nami yelled, “Snap out of it!” the sword came closer, “Luffy! He hypnotized you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Wait, Mama said not to kill them, yet.” the red haired woman holding her stated, saving her from certain death.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, what a pain.” the sword bearing woman frowned, “Guess we’ll take it slow then.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Nami yelled and glanced over at him, he looked over to her, though his eyes were still glossed over. His mouth moved, and it looked like he was saying her name, though she couldn’t hear anything since he was too far away and the sounds of rain and approaching feet halted her hearing capacities.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She felt the tip of the sword at her chest, and she glanced down, before hearing the monotone woman say, “Guess we’ll have to make sure you’re not hiding anything.” the tip of the sword began to slowly slice the bodice around her breasts, and luckily the fabric still clung to her. The woman even cut the band on her bra. She glanced horrified up at the woman, before glancing at Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes widened, “Luffy!” she yelled, as she watched his slouched figure look over at her, “Nami?” she heard, before his face was smashed between two giant fists. The force they met with each other held the twenty-one year old in the air for a moment, before they pulled back, and brought up the other fist. Luffy stumbled forward, before he was smashed again between three fists, as it looked like their triplet brother joined them in the fray. When they pulled back, Luffy fell limp on the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” she yelled, and struggled to free herself, but it felt like her legs were held, too. “Luffy! Get up!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright,” she heard the red haired woman say, “that straw hat boy has fallen, let’s take ‘em.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! Luffy!” Nami cried, as she began to be dragged off with the retreating army.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of the men who punched him picked him up by the collar of his shirt, and began to make his way back with the rest. Nami noticed him pulling on him, but not budging. She heard something from Luffy, but couldn’t make it out, however she noticed his hands gripping tightly at the grass. Even without hearing him, she knew what he was saying. He told it to her as she was trying to get him to escape, or even to eat. He was waiting for Sanji, and he wasn’t going to budge from that spot.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let go!” she heard Luffy’s oppressor say, before raising a fist and slamming it onto the poor man’s head. The grip on the grass loosened, and Luffy officially fell unconscious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! Luffy!” Nami screamed, as she watched his beaten body get dragged through the wet grass and mud.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>hehe, sorry... cliff-hanger, again...<br/>But I will say, that I've established we are officially in the Whole Cake Island arc, and while I am a few chapters ahead than what is published, I am still in the WCI arc... and guess what? the violence, and the blood, and the gore, does NOT stop here. So, if you really don't like THAT kinda stuff... I apologize, the funny and cringy, and cute, and relaxed scenes will come into play, eventually.<br/>It's kinda hard for me to write this stuff, too, so there are definetly parts where this stuff doesn't happen, I think a few chapters, actually. But, then again, this is a modern version -essentially- of One Piece, with a few of my personal twists, and mysteries.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0035"><h2>35. Betrayal</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>WARNING: Self-harm and violence. Loss of blood.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Nami opened her eyes, and noticed the tight bind her hands had, thankfully in front of her. She rolled over onto her back, and took in the view of her surroundings. She must have passed out while they were taking her here, because the last thing she remembered was Luffy’s beaten body getting dragged through the wet grass and mud. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Luffy!</span>
  </em>
  <span> She looked around, the dim lighting from a single candle in the room didn’t do much. To her relief, she found a motionless being on the far corner, away from her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His hands were chained behind his back, and he was still covered with mud. She scooched herself over to him, it not being all that easy, seeing as her arms were working as if they were one. She knelt over him, her ankles had been tied as well, she noticed on her way to him. His black hair was covering his face, his straw hat, still tied around his neck. She lifted her hands, and gently moved the hair from his face. His eyes were closed, and he had a few nasty bruises across his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Luffy,” she whispered, lightly poking his cheek, “are you alright?” He didn’t answer, but just lay there, motionless. She grabbed his shoulder and pulled it toward her, forcing his chest toward the ceiling, and his shoulder blade against her knee. She looked down at his sleeping form, and fixed the hair again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She ran her fingers, though still tied, over the bruise over his eye, she felt guilty, somehow. She felt like maybe, he could have blocked the attack had she not yelled at him, but she knew that wasn’t true. As weird as it sounded, she felt like she was the reason he was doing all of this, ever since he saved her. She felt like she had forced him to tell her something, and that weighed over him. Why was it so important to keep away from her, she wondered. She adjusted his head so it would rest on her thighs. She placed her hands on the top of his head, and began running her fingers back and forth against his hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He was injured, really badly, and it didn’t help that he was now completely unconscious. She heard the jingling of keys, and glanced over to the sudden light that came into their cell. She pushed herself backwards, so her back rested against the wall, pulling Luffy’s head in the process. It was difficult, seeing as his unconscious body was a lot heavier than a conscious one. The man who entered the chamber, she recognized as one of Luffy’s attackers. One of the awful men who decided it would be a good idea to punch the poor, defenseless, injured man square in the face. She frowned at him, as he decided to sit across from the cell and just stare at her and her neighbor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hasn’t woken up yet, has he?” he said, though it sounded more like he was saying it to himself rather than her. She dropped her head to look at Luffy, and he was still sleeping. Pain was still etched into his face, as if it was impossible to remove. She took a long breath before bending over and whispering into his ear. Her hair draped over his bare chest, and his lips nearly touched her own ear, as she decided she had better wake him up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, you can’t wait for Sanji if you aren’t there to wait for him,” she whispered, before raising her head. Her hair must have tickled his nose as it ran over it, because he suddenly shifted his head in her lap.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man wasn’t even paying any attention to them, as his eyes were utterly glued to whatever he was reading, a newspaper, a magazine? The sudden light in the room darkened, and she looked over to the doorway to find a few more of Luffy’s and her attackers making their way into the room. They joined him on the couch, and observed the two like they were animals at a zoo, completely foreign. She glared back at them, as they smirked at the situation she was in. It was all their fault she was in the cell in the first place.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She suddenly jolted as warm skin brushed against her thigh, she looked down at Luffy and noticed his cheek was pressed against her thigh, his hands still tied behind his back, but she needed to wake this idiot up. She shifted her hands so that they were between his soft cheek and her sweaty thigh. She lifted him up, and noticed his eyelashes flutter. He blinked a few times, before rising into a sitting position. She regretted moving him, because she liked to run her fingers through his surprisingly soft, though a tad dirty, hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oi, Nami, where are we?” he asked, turning his head to face her, his hair falling from where she had brushed it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“In a jail cell.” she sighed, and clasped her hands together.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see,” Luffy replied, before twisting his arms around, and over his head. A little disturbing, she had to admit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are we gonna do now?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy glanced around, again, and noticed the group of people watching them like a television show. He jumped to his feet, and slammed his forehead against the bars, “Hey!” he yelled, “Where are we? Who are you? Stop staring at us!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Calm down, straw hat-kid,” a pale skinned man with a rosy nose said, holding out his hands in defense, “Don’t worry, no one has ever been able to escape from the cells I manage.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not helpful!” Nami cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, so we’re in cells…” Luffy shrugged, turning to Nami, as if to tell her the intel he found out. She stared at him, and he turned back to the bars, “Where’s Sanji?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji?” the pale man asked, “that brat? You beat up Cracker for him?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, so?” Luffy yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re never gonna see him again!” he yelled, before his phone started ringing, he answered it, nearly immediately, “Hello, Mama…” he paused.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey! I’m talking to you!” Luffy yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, the brats are right here…” the man answered a supposed question, and paused again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You bastard! Ignoring me like that!” Luffy yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah,” the pale man said, bringing the phone from his ear, and turning it on speaker, “Mama wants to talk to you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Luffy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Straw Hat?” an older female voice sounded over the phone. Evil, if Nami had to describe it in one word.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oi, Big Mom!” Luffy yelled, “Where’s Sanji?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji’s getting married…” Big Mom answered, “What are you doing here, Straw hat?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I came for Sanji!” Luffy yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I thought you said you were gonna beat me… Did you give up?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m still gonna kick your ass!” Luffy yelled, “But not yet, I had come here for Sanji, not you!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, really?” the woman snickered over the phone, “And you!” she yelled, “That orange haired accomplice!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Leave Nami out of this!” Luffy yelled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me?” Nami questioned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How did you manage to take out all those men? You’re puny!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She seems to control the weather with a staff.” one of the men described.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Control?” the woman cackled, “That’s bullshit! I would have been able to control much more! I would have been able to beat that bastard Shanks and Kaido had I been able to control things! That stupid daughter! You remind me of her… </span>
  <em>
    <span>Nami</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The way Big Mom had said her name sent shivers up her spine. She didn’t know what was going on, but it didn’t seem like Luffy and his little band of friends were welcome here, by any means. Apparently she reminds the empress of her daughter, a supposed stupid, and judging by the hatred dripping off her words, disobedient. Nami flinched, “I’m not her, I don’t even know who you are!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You bitch!” Big Mom yelled over the phone, “That supid girl and this stupid girl are the same!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s ridiculous.” Luffy said, quietly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did you say? Straw Hat?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said that’s stupid. So you didn’t get power, your daughter left, end of story.” he said, before raising his voice, “Big Mom! If our little bet back on Fishman Island doesn’t mean anything anymore, I’m re-making it!” he took a short breath, before screaming, “I’m gonna kick your ass all over the world, and I am gonna be the greatest man!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Argh!” Big Mom screamed, before ending the call.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy hung his head, exhausted, as everyone save the first one that entered left the room. Nami scooched herself closer to the black haired man. She reached her hands up, and tousled his hair, trying to be comforting. He looked up at her, though his head didn’t move, “I’m gonna beat her.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, we came here for Sanji, there’s no need to get all mad.” she said, as he raised his head, and collapsed on the floor, effectively bringing his head away from her reach, again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We did come here for Sanji, but she’s mean.” Luffy said, bringing his hands over his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, I think we should just leave Sanji.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy jolted upright, “Leave him, are you stupid?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s an adult, he’s older than both of us, has a whole lot more experience, he beat you to a pulp, and this was his decision, I think we should leave him.” she explained.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t do that, Nami. I promised I’d wait for him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But look what happened to us! To you!” She gestured to the bruises, and cuts along his visible body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji’s hurt, too, Nami.” he said, “He’s alone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s not alone, Luffy!” Nami yelled, “He’s with that green haired guy, and that pink haired girl that said they were his siblings! Sanji’s not alone! He’s going to be getting married, how can you say that he’s alone?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked at her blankly, an unreadable expression on his face, it was new to her, he sighed and turned away from her, “Sanji’s alone, Nami, and that hurts.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami groaned, and hit her head against the cuffs on her hands, “you are such an idiot.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy’s attention turned to the door, as Pudding walked in, “Oh! Pudding!” he called, “Hey! How’d you know we were here?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami looked over at the door, and watched as the brunette made her way to the cell door, before unlocking it, and walking in. She knelt beside them, “I’m sorry,” she cried, “I’m sorry for tricking you! But Sanji…” she trailed into a softer voice, “Sanji proposed to me!” she smiled, light, happy, though tears were streaming down her cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji proposed?” Luffy asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, he did, but…” she dropped her head, “I won’t marry him, I won’t marry him, because I…” she leaned in closer to the two, equidistant away from both their ears, “I’m gonna kill him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy’s eyes widened, and Nami nearly gasped. It was so unexpected. Pudding’s eyes were different, they didn’t look as soft and caring as they had before, Luffy didn’t see them, or from her perspective he couldn’t, but she did. Her eyes looked at her with hatred, and longing for blood. Nami nearly wanted to crawl into a hole, but it was equivalent to how much she wanted to slap the woman for tricking her, and tricking Sanji the entire time they had been dating.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pudding rose from her crouched position, and smiled, tears streaming her face again, before she elegantly wiped them off, and turned around, exiting the small cell. She nodded to her older brother, the one keeping watch of them, and left the chamber. If Nami had been standing, she would, by all means be a puddle on the ground now. She looked over at Luffy, who suddenly brought his chained hands up to his mouth, and began gnawing at the flesh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami stared in horror as a trickle of blood dripped down his wrist. She glanced at his teeth, they were beginning to become stained with blood. He spat out some of the blood that had lingered in his mouth for a little too long, before angrily looking over at the door. She looked over at the door as well, before snapping her head back to him, as she saw his teeth stab into his skin. Blood dripped out of his other wrist, and onto the floor of the cell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy! What are you doing!” she yelled, “You’re losing a lot of blood! Your wrists are torn open!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s the point!” Luffy yelled, as he spat out some more blood, obviously not wanting anything that could quench his hunger to linger in his mouth for too long.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What!” Nami screamed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Woman,” the man watching them suddenly said, unfazed by Luffy’s sudden act of cannibalism to his own skin, “How do you work this staff?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why would I tell you?” Nami stammered out, trying to sound threatening, though she gasped as more blood dripped onto the floor.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you won’t tell me…” the man said, whipping out a gun, “I am gonna shoot one  hole in you, every five minutes that you don’t explain.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Nami screamed, “If you do that-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, Nami!” Luffy yelled at her, his teeth dripping with his own blood, “I’ll bite off my hands in five minutes so you don’t have to worry!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” she looked over at him, as she saw, regretfully, as he slammed his teeth into his skin again, his blood spraying across his face like a broken hose. “I don’t want either option!” she cried. Though it all looked hopeless from here, either she dies by a gunshot, or Luffy gets out of his cuffs and somehow saves her without freaking hands! Both outcomes looked terrifying.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Out of all my cliff hangers, this one has probably got to be the most gruesome. Just sayin.<br/>anyway, i hope you enjoyed it!!!<br/>(the chapter/story, not the gruesome part... but if you did, im not one to judge, i mean i did write it.)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0036"><h2>36. Ambassador</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>WARNING: Self-harm, and blood-loss. Gruesome.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Luffy! Stop!” She cried, his blood dripping off his cheeks as it pooled around the ground.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Only two minutes left!” the man outside the cell had said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Nami screamed. The man aimed the gun at her, and she shivered. Her eyes refused to look away from the barrel of the gun, knowing the only other place they’d look would go to the pool of blood on the ground, inching its way to stain her clothes, or to the man beside her as he kept trying repeatedly to tear his hands off his wrists, so they’d be free from the cuffs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on, spit it out!” the man exclaimed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, Nami,” Luffy said, as blood spurted out of his mouth, “I’ll get these cuffs off soon enough.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Nami screamed, the barrel looked a bit larger, and longer than before. The blood was still warm against her legs, and the sound of teeth biting flesh seemed a bit louder than before. “I don’t want either option!” she screamed, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes were burning, they were swollen and red. But the pain she imagined from just seeing Luffy’s white teeth turn red from his own blood, and the feeling of a bullet shooting through her chest seemed all too real at the moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There was no possible way that Luffy would get his hands free from his wrists within the given time. There was no way that she’d survive a single bullet. There was no possible way that should the man beside her actually manage to free himself, they’d survive getting out of the cell. There was no way Luffy’ll survive that massive loss of blood. She only just found out she loved him. She only just found out he was her savior. She only just watched him survive the onslaught of Sanji’s fierce kicks and the army's sudden attack. She didn’t want him to die now. She didn’t want to die, before she had any of her questions answered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“One minute!” the man cocked the gun, and held it up to his eye as he aimed it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! No! No!” Nami screamed, her vision was becoming blurred by her own tears, but her death was in her sights, and she wanted to keep living.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami! Don’t worry, I’ve almost got it!” Luffy yelled, in response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! Luffy! No!” Nami screamed, tearing her vision to where she begged it not to go. Luffy’s face was to his cheekbones in his own blood. His chin was dripping with it, his arms were dripping with it. There was a hint of an off white color underneath the hoard of red blood pooling the ground around both of them. A shudder went up her spine as she knew exactly what that white thing was. His skin, and flesh, were spit out in the blood around him, and he was about to bite down into his poor wrists again. His eyes were confident. Confident that he’d get them both out of there. He didn’t care about his own wrists, he was confident he’d free them both.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her tears wouldn’t stay in her eyes, as much as she wanted them too. They pooled around at her corners, and cascaded down her cheeks atop the streams of tears already there. Luffy’s wrists lay limp. Her eyes burned, as her hot tears scorched her cheeks. There was no hope. Not hope at all. They were both going to die. Luffy was going to die. She was going to die. Her questions were going to die. His answers were going to die. Their mission was going to die. Without being able to hold in her hiccups any longer, she wailed. Words incomprehensible as she cried. Actions numb as she bawled her hands and mourned her upcoming end.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Stop!” a thick voice sounded, and skin against skin was heard as she paid it no mind. “Luffy-san are you alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jinbei!” Luffy announced.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami hiccuped herself to a stop as she heard Luffy’s excited announcement. She heard the name of the former ambassador of Fishman Island. Her tears still burned in her eyes, but she wiped them away with both hands. Relief stretched across her features as she noticed Luffy stopping his teeth’s onslaught onto his skin. She noticed the man who had held a gun to her unconscious on the floor. She was extremely relieved.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now I don’t have to bite my arms!” Luffy said, cheerfully.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh my!” Jinbei spoke, his thick arms rising to the bars that were separating them, “What happened, Luffy-san?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We came to rescue Sanji, but ended up here instead.” Luffy answered, “Can you get these cuffs off?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t have the key.” Jinbei answered, his thick accent extremely apparent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So I have to bite my arms anyway?” Luffy reasoned as he positioned his mouth above his bitten wrists.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! Luffy! Stop!” Nami cried, her new tears mixing with the still wet old ones on her cheeks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There’s no other way out, Nami, you bite yours off too.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Nami cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jinbei spoke up, again, his tanned skin reaching down to grab the pale man who had held Nami at gunpoint. He rummaged through the pockets, and pulled out a set of keys, “Perhaps, one of these will work?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? Really?” Luffy said, bringing his face away from his arm, to Nami’s satisfaction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, now to find which one.” Jinbei responded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hurry!” Luffy exclaimed, “We don’t have much time!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What?” Nami questioned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s try this one!” Jinbei exclaimed as he stuffed one of the keys in the lock, but it didn’t fit, and he shuffled the ring in his hand to shift to another one, that looked about the right size, luckily it opened, and he rushed in, forcing a key into the locks on Luffy’s wrists.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she watched, her eyes began to pool up again. While the boy didn’t actually eat his flesh, his bloody arms and wrists proved that he had taken his teeth to them multiple times. She wanted to gag, to throw up, to run away, yet, for some reason, she wanted to be the one to bandage his poor wrists. Jinbei moved onto Luffy’s feet, which the idiot either forgot about, or decided to take his hands off first. Her black haired neighbor was cheering for being set free, though all of his cheers had faded out of her hearing as she watched the blood trickle down his arm and onto his shoulder, and in his sleeves as he raised his freed hands into the air.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She didn’t even notice Jinbei’s rough hands grab a hold of her frail ones, and begin to take off her cuffs. Luffy was jumping and dancing around as if he hadn’t nearly torn his own hands off himself. She was freed, and she stood, mindlessly, before making her way to Luffy. His expression was excited, and he was about to dash out, she could tell.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright! Jinbei, we have to go and get Sanji!” he said, a sudden seriousness overcame him. She flinched, slightly, before grabbing a hold of his forearms, and looking down at his bleeding flesh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy…” she breathed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy didn’t move his hands from her grasp as he began explaining to Jinbei that the blond friend was going to be killed. She tuned all his words out, as she tightened her hold of his arms. She dropped her head into his bloody palms, and cried. His attention shifted to her, and he rubbed one thumb against her cheek, before turning his attention back to Jinbei.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“-So you stay with Nami, and I’ll go get him.” she heard him say, once her crying came to a hiccup, once more. She glanced up at him, his expression stern, and she tightened her hold on his arms.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy, you can’t leave-” she whispered, her voice too hoarse from crying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You alright, Nami?” he asked, interrupting her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me?” she asked, before straightening her back and squeezing his arms. He flinched, “What about you, Luffy? Are you okay?” she held up his arms, his wrists falling, for her to examine, “Your skin is gone! Your muscles are torn! You can see your bone! Your face is covered in your blood, and you’re exhausted! I don’t want to see you get hurt anymore! There is no way that you are alright, Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not.” he answered, shocking her, “but I’m not the one whose hurting.” He pulled his wounded hands from her grasp, and turned to Jinbei, “I’m gonna go get Sanji!” he ran off, leaving her hands still raised in the air from holding his poor hands. There was so much she needed explanations for, like why </span>
  <em>
    <span>this</span>
  </em>
  <span> was a huge secret from her, and why didn’t he have much of a reaction when he found out she </span>
  <em>
    <span>knew</span>
  </em>
  <span>! She dropped her hands, and raised her head, looking over at Jinbei.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re Luffy’s friend, right?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If that’s the best way to put it.” Jinbei responded, “I’d love to be called that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t understand him,” she muttered, “He moved in around two months ago, and I’ve talked with him often. I’ve hung out with him, spent time with him. I thought I knew him. I </span>
  <em>
    <span>thought</span>
  </em>
  <span> that once I figured out his secret, everything would click. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Everything</span>
  </em>
  <span> about him would make sense, but… it doesn’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know much about him, myself.” Jinbei resposponed, before deciding it would be best to get out of there before the guards come, “We better get going, Luffy-san probably let up quite the stir with his exit.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami ran after him, but still wanted to continue her conversation, “So what is it? What is his secret?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“His secret?” Jinbei questioned, “Which one?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>This</span>
  </em>
  <span> one!” she answered, “Ever since he came to Zou everything didn’t seem to make sense to me anymore. He was different, I was confused.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But trustworthy still, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes! Of course! I didn’t lose my trust in him. I knew I could trust him, it’s just…” she trailed off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s keeping to himself?” Jinbei asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes! That! When we arrived here-” she was cut off by Jinbei punching one of the guards who were rushing toward them square in the face, and throwing him back. A domino effect on the guards behind him. “-and we were after who we had thought was Sanji, he had a different look in his eyes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A different look?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It was serious.” She nearly laughed at her stupidity, “I’ve seen him serious before, that wasn’t new. When Sanji surprised me at my flat, Luffy had a stern, serious expression on his face, but this one was different. It was as if he was-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A captain giving orders?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami nearly stopped running. The foreigner had struck it on the nail. She couldn’t name it, but that’s what the feeling she felt in her gut was. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, her trust in him was still there. But that feeling that he was different than she had thought reigned in her mind. The feeling that there was something utterly wrong was supreme to her, but it wasn’t that there was anything wrong. It was that she hadn’t seen this side of him before. She hadn’t noticed his persona of a captain giving orders. Of a captain concerned for the well-being of his crew. Nearly like a father. A father wanting to go out and find his children, and bring them back. Earnestly searching for them. But Luffy wasn’t a father, heck, she never heard him mention anything about his dad. If there was a way to describe the earnest, stern, serious look in his eyes, it would be that fatherly order of a captain.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jinbe rushed around a corner, after taking out a few more guards, with her at his heels.  She was struggling to keep up, but she was ever so serious about not losing her way. Not losing the kimono dressed man, that somehow had quite the speed up the long staircases. There was this sense of excitement bubbling in her, and for some reason, she wanted to be a part of these adventures he ran on. Though there was an urge to keep him from doing anything reckless like this again. She heaved a great sigh as she managed to follow Jinbei into a room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The man stopped at the window, and glanced down, luckily at ground level, and she noticed two people peeking from the bushes. She hurried over, and let out a sigh of relief as she recognized the two as Chopper and Carrot, the two they had lost in the forests. Jinbei pushed a hand out for her to stay back, and she glanced behind her at the door. The man then slammed his fist forward, and it rammed into the glass, shattering it to pieces.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She followed the strong man out, and rushed past him to the pale blond woman and the brunette teen. She didn’t notice his surprised face, as she enveloped her arms around him. She muttered against him, “I’m glad you two are okay!” like a mother caring for her children.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper pushed away from her, “Of course we’re okay, Nami!” he smiled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You two had disappeared in the forest. I was looking for you, but all I found was Luffy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Chopper glanced around her, “Where is he?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He ran off in search of Sanji.” Jinbei replied.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Does he do things as reckless as biting his arms off, often?” Nami asked the ambassador as they concealed themselves in the confines of the gardens they ran into.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Biting his arms off!” Chopper screamed, causing Carrot to slam her hand against his face to keep him quiet. They then continued to hurry them along, as they nearly dragged the woman who had ambushed them to a destination. Jinbei followed after them, as he casually brought a hand to his face. Nami waited for the response. It seemed like it was taking forever.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wouldn’t know how reckless he was before I met him two years ago, but, he has made quite the mess of things, even if it hurts him when he can’t save them.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami nodded, taking note of the fact that all of his friends had met him two years ago, and they still had such strong bonds with him. She followed Chopper into a small cottage on the outskirts of the forest they had fled from. Carrot hurried in, as she pulled the tied woman along with them. Jinbei took a seat by the window directly after he had made his way inside.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Heh, sorry, again. Cliff-hanger, you know me.<br/>How'd you like the start of the chapter, though? Hm? Very welcoming and cheery, right? Brightens your day? Perfect weekend chapter release, right?<br/>haha, yeah, cheerful.</p><p>It's funny, because on tumblr, I just posted chapter nineteen, where Law comes into the story, and here I'm having Luffy devour his own flesh. The contrast is insane! Law saving children, versus blood pooling around Nami. yeesh!<br/>This story took a VERY dark turn. But hey, light times will come back... just... (spoiler) not for a while...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0037"><h2>37. Snooping</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I can tell there’s a story to that…” Nami muttered, “is it alright to tell me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What had happened?” Jinbei clarified, Nami nodded, lightly, “I’m afraid that isn’t my story to tell.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Come on!” Nami nearly found herself begging, “I know you want to get it off your chest, and I already know he’s a vigilante.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know!” Chopper exclaimed, “When’d he tell you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I figured it out,” Nami replied, “but he didn’t deny it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper squealed, “So does this mean you’re gonna join us!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Join you?” she shuddered. She wasn’t sure she could handle watching Luffy destroy his own body. It made her wonder what exactly had happened when he got the huge gash in his shoulder blade a while back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes! Does this mean you’re gonna be joining us?” Chopper repeated, not clarifying anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chopper, I’m afraid you don’t understand.” Jinbei stated, folding his arms into his kimono.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What do you mean, Jinbei?” the teen asked, turning his attention to the foreigner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy didn’t tell Nami.” the man stated, and Nami frowned.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Sure, he didn’t tell me, he didn’t need to. I could see it all for myself. There all stupid idiots. What’s the difference between him telling me, and not. He didn’t seem upset by it, so why should it be a big deal?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Nami thought to herself, folding her arms, stubbornly under her breasts.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So how are we gonna get Luffy-san?” Carrot asked, jumping into the conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He went to rescue Sanji.” Jinbei stated, “have faith in him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hope he doesn’t still think Sanji’s gonna go to those plains. He’s gonna die.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy’s gonna die!” Chopper exclaimed, “Hurry! We need to get a doctor and stop him, quick!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aren’t you a doctor?” Nami asked, before clarifying, “No, Luffy said something stupid after Sanji beat the crap out of him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy does that sometimes.” Chopper replied, “What’d he say?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He said-” her sentence was cut off by the teen suddenly realizing what she had said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji beat up Luffy! How? Why?” he stated, grabbing fearfully to Nami’s shoulders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know, but Luffy didn’t fight back. He just took it.” Nam turned her head away from the teen, pain etched into her face, as she tried not to cry in recollecting the image of Luffy’s unconscious, bleeding body on the ground, and Sanji walking away, unscathed, “but he said he was only gonna eat Sanji’s food.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Only Sanji’s?” Chopper asked, “but… has he eaten anything at all?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No!” Nami stated, “He said he was only going to eat Sanji’s food. He didn’t even let the rain land in his mouth. Do you think he’ll eat?” she asked, “cause I don’t think Sanji’s coming back.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Knowing Luffy…” Chopper trailed off, a frown adorning his features as he bit his lower lip trying to withhold a cry, “he’s not gonna eat a thing.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But he’s always hungry! Right? Every time he comes to my house he eats my food. Almost anytime I run into him he’s eating something! I’ve nearly caught him stealing my oranges before! There’s no way that he’s just </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> going to eat! You’re lying, Chopper!” Nami yelled, rising to her feet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m not!” Chopper cried, his tears falling down his tanned cheeks, “Luffy’s stubborn! And he’s determined! When he says he’s gonna do something, he’s going to do it!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Nami muttered, collapsing to the ground again, “He’s gonna die from blood loss and starvation. He’s not gonna leave Tottoland until Sanji shows up. He’s gonna die! He can’t die! Luffy can’t die!” she repeated to herself slightly above a whisper.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami! Stop it!” Chopper screamed, and she looked up at him as he stood over her, he took a few deep breaths in and out. His small but muscular build heaving with each one, “I’m worried for Luffy, too, but if there’s one thing you learned about him is that he’s NOT going to die.” Even as he said this, his tears were still streaming out of his eyes, cascading down his cheeks and raining onto the floor. His brows were furrowed, and his expression stern, but he was certain. He was absolutely certain of his trust in Luffy, that it made Nami wonder why she didn’t have such a strong blind trust in Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her tears were burning her eyes, but she pushed them away with the back of her hands as she nodded in understanding. She bawled her hands into light fists, and placed them on her knees. Knowing that they had to do something in order to get off the island, with Brook, Pedro, and Luffy, should Sanji not show up. She sighed, and felt a teardrop land onto her thigh. She glanced up at the ceiling before she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall. A mistake, on her part.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She knew he was fine, she knew he was going to be okay, but for some reason the pain of watching him tear apart his own arms with his bare teeth bit at her heart, and she snapped her eyes open again, noticing Jinbei start talking with Chopper about something rather important. Or at least from the looks on the two’s faces it was important. Nami’s ears were ringing with the sound of teeth against flesh, of blood dripping onto the ground, and of the confident sound of determination. He needed to get bandaged up right away. He needed to heal, and he couldn’t if he was laying in the dirt, with the murky rain pouring on him, just waiting as the bacteria backed up in his open wounds. Sanji wouldn’t show up, she didn’t care how many times her black haired neighbor said that her old friend was the one that was in pain, was the one that was hurting, even if he was the same person that nearly killed the person speaking up for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was true, she didn’t want her friend to die, but she also didn’t want to ever forgive him for hurting her friend, either. Luffy was her friend, and he would continue to be her friend. She trusted him, like that. He had asked to be her friend long before Sanji had ever become a part of her life, and she would have said ‘yes.’ It was on the tip of her tongue as she clambered up the rumble to give the man his hat, even if he was a boy at the time. Had the straw hat not flown out of her hands, and she had seen his face she might have even kissed him, that was how grateful she was for him at the time. She still was, though now that she knew him, knew him for who he was, a kiss might not suffice anymore. She wanted to do more for him than a simple peck to the cheek, heck even his lips, as much as she blushed to think about it, probably weren’t enough to thank him for what he had done for her. But now, now he was sitting there out in the rain waiting for someone she once called her close friend. He was waiting for someone who was nearly sitting on his deathbed, while laying in his own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami stood from her spot, “I’m gonna get Luffy.” she declared.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Jinbei responded, instantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy is going to kill himself, if he stays out there. His wounds are going to get infected,” she glanced over to Chopper, waiting for him to confirm what she was saying, “I’m going to get him, and bring him back over to us.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Jinbei repeated. Nami looked to Chopper hoping he’d defend her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why not?” she asked, stubbornly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because Luffy-san knows what he’s doing.” Jinbei stated, dryly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“His wrists aren’t even bandaged!” Nami exclaimed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper chose this moment to speak up, “As much as I would want to help Luffy, too, we can’t.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t? Or won’t?” Nami stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Can’t.” Jinbei answered, “We have bigger problems to deal with than Luffy-san.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Bigger problems?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Nami thought to herself, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Do they want Luffy to die?</span>
  </em>
  <span> “I get it, but if you won’t come with me, then I am going by myself.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No.” Jinbei commanded, and she hated how he seemed like the voice of reason echoing in her ears. She turned on her heel waiting for him to explain himself. He didn’t. He didn’t utter a single word.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami hesitated as she lifted her hand to the door handle, she could feel their stares to the back of her head, the kidnapped woman’s glare seemed to be plotting something. Her fingers twitched as she stared down at the silvery handle of the door. Her lips frowned, and she closed her eyes, tightly. She bawled her other hand into a fist, before opening her eyes, frustration adoring her features. He didn’t say anything, and it was like he was telling her everything. None of them said </span>
  <em>
    <span>anything</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and yet, she felt like they were all </span>
  <em>
    <span>telling</span>
  </em>
  <span> her what the best course of action was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She dropped her hand to her side, and let lose her fist, before turning around slowly, with downcast eyes, to face them, “I’m worried.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We all are, Nami.” Chopper stated, coming over to her, “but Luffy’s our captain, we can’t go and do things he wouldn’t approve of.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Even if it means saving his life?” Nami asked, as she twiddled her thumbs, staring down at them, blankly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, Nami.” Jinbei stated, “Even that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She lifted her eyes to meet the man’s before dropping them over to the teen in front of her, “I’m sorry,” she said, keeping her frown, “I wasted precious time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper smiled, “It’s no big deal, Nami, we do that all the time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a few minutes of discussion, they devised a plan on getting Brook, whom they found (due to the weird old woman, who accidentally - against her constant denials - revealed her name to be Brulee) was with Big Mom herself. Nami gulped on the information, the tone of the evil voice enough to nearly kill her, and Luffy’s outrage only made her more scared at this boss of a woman. Nami sighed, as they snuck their way back into the castle. She couldn’t believe this was happening, and her adrenaline was rushing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Currently, she was pressing her back against the outerwall, trying to avoid the security cameras and lights waving around the surrounding area to castle. Jinbei next to her, and Chopper and Carrot following his lead. She had to pace her breathing, she had to calm down, but no matter how many times she tried, she ended up breathing faster, louder, more out of pace. Maybe it was because they were pulling Brulee along with them, so that she didn’t escape, maybe it was because Luffy was constantly on her mind. The image of his bones stained red through his bitten wrists was etched into her memory, and thinking about it caused her breathing to worsen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wanted to make sure he was fine, make sure he wasn’t doing anything that would cause infection to his wrists, should it not be there already. She trusted him, she kept telling herself she did. It was a shocker to find out he was a vigilante, it hurt. But it shocked her even more to realize he was the person that allowed her to have the freedom she had now. The freedom to lovingly grow her orange trees, to create maps without worrying about someone criticizing her lines, though they never picked up the pencil. She was glad it was the care-free neighbor that saved her over two years ago. But at the same time, she had questions. Questions about why he left. Questions about why he didn’t recognize her. Questions about why he didn’t tell her. Questions about why when she found out, he acted like it wasn’t a big deal, though before in the cave he was so adamant about not telling her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They stopped at a window, light shining through, and she followed Jinbei’s lead and peaked through the pane. Pedro was standing with his back to them, something was resting in his hand, and there was someone in a pink suit, with long legs and an apple shaped body, standing opposite him. They were just out of his eyesight, though sunglasses dawned his eyes, so it wasn’t possible to see where he was looking. He had a gun in one hand and was aiming at Pedro. Carrot had to withhold a scream. Chopper lightly tapped on the window, just loud enough for Pedro to notice, but the jaguar dressed man didn’t turn around. He stared down his opponent, and right as the trigger was pulled he threw the item he had in his hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Smoke erupted in the room, and Nami nearly gasped, when she saw Pedro’s face at the window, slipping through the cracked opening, before closing it shut again. Carrot wrapped her arms around his neck, as they slipped against the wall again, and tried to find out where Brook was. They had hoped the crazy woman was wrong, and the two were together, but things were proving a little bit more difficult than that. Pedro exclaimed they had gotten separated in order to help the afroed man attain his goal better, so he wasn’t sure what had become of him.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>They are saved! Finally! They deserve to be!<br/>Also... sidenote: I'm not sure exactly how wanted the Brook and Linlin scene to go... So I, um, you know, (spoiler) skipped it. In a good way though. It's not like a huge chunk of the story is just dropped, I just used some creative writing licenses to just, you know, avoid it.<br/>So, um, yeah. For all the Charlotte Linlin/Brook shippers out there, I'm sorry? Not really. This is my story, and I can do what I want, to an extent.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0038"><h2>38. Regrets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Warning: Third-Person Limited POV change</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tears streamed down his face as he stared at the basket in his hand. A beautiful picnic lunch was neatly packed within. Neatly tucked inside it, in a beautiful black and red bento box, a filling meal that he had made. He pulled out a cigarette from his shirt pocket, and stuck it in his mouth. Rain pelted the white weaved wood of the basket, and the red sweater around his shoulders. The gold trims dripped with the heavy water. His blond hair soppy over his right eye, as his face was in ever present frown. His eyes were glossed over, and he could see straight, everything was blurry with his sudden stroke of tears.<br/>They cascaded down his face like an angry waterfall, dripping off the small cleft in his chin. The hairs on his face were soaked black, and his eyelashes were clumped with tears. He pulled out his golden lighter, and attempted to flick on the fire to light the white cigarette placed shallowly in his mouth. His hand shook as he brought it up to the edge of the wrapped paper, and he pushed the top open. He pressed his thumb to the lighter, and let it roll from under his flesh. The flame began to spark, but as it did, it was washed out. He tried again, his teeth chattering around the cigarette. He tried again, his body feeling weak. He was vulnerable. He felt used. That unwanted feeling rushed to his soul again. The feeling he never wanted to feel again. The feeling that drove him away from his ever so disapproving family.<br/>So much for wanting to spend some quality time with his future bride. He couldn’t move, couldn’t run. So what if she comes out to see him in utter chaos. The few months he had spent dating her had gone to nothing. What was he even with her for? Embarrassment? Heartbreak? He had enough of that, he didn’t need a second serving. The pain in his chest wouldn’t go away. He was wrapped in the swarm of emotions raining down on him like the pellets of water coming from the clouds, soaking his very being. His tears were now mixed with the salty rain. It was burdening to him. He was there helping out his father making a giant business advancement, breaking his very being. He couldn’t go back to his friends, the cuffs on his wrists proof of that. He couldn’t even spend time with his fiance, her painful words striking through his heart.<br/>He faintly heard a few words coming through the window, his ears shutting out her unfamiliar voice, as his feet shuffled, barely able to actually move from their spot in the wet grass of the balcony garden. He had gone through so much trouble just to meet up with her. He had a joyful look on his face. His smile had been so wide as he mixed together the ingredients of the bento. As he sprinkled the pepper onto the meat. As he laid the cucumbers into the sandwiches. As he doused the gravy in orange citrus. As he soaked the beef in coca cola. As he added the mint tea leaves to the salad dressing, and tossed a few sugary cookies beside the salad. Placing a nice bottle of fine sake beside the black box in the white basket.<br/>He slid open the door, and found himself standing at the base of it. Not willing to actually walk inside, dirtying the fine carpets with his soaked black soles. He felt guilty. There wasn’t anything he could do. Hesitantly, he took a step inside, and let his feet lead him who knows where within the castle walls. He breathed a sigh of relief as he found himself taking refuge in the medical wing. No one would come there. No one would dare to find him. They thought he was in the groom’s chambers, awaiting possible death the next day. No, he was going to die. He was only hours away from dying upon the altar.<br/>“Sanji?” a woman’s voice broke through his melancholy sadness.<br/>He raised his eyes, slowly, without hope to the owner of the voice. Half expecting it to be someone else. But his eyes met the blue ones of his older sister’s. She was lying on the bed, and he recalled seeing her with a bandaged leg in his bride’s room. “I’m a mistake.” he stated, relaxing himself into one of the cushioned benches.<br/>“Mistake?” she repeated.<br/>“Yeah,” he sighed, “Everyone else has that strength. That endurance, and I…” he looked at the cuffs of his hands, a faint sad smile appearing on his face, as if laughing at the situation he found himself in, “... I don’t.”<br/>“Sanji,” Reiju stated, pushing herself into a sitting position, “You aren’t a mistake.”<br/>“Yeah,” he laughed, “I’m needed for his business deal. Can’t waste any of the sons on that.” he sighed, “What do you remember anyway?”<br/>“Remember?” Reiju repeated.<br/>He thought so, that drink that Pudding had given her was to fog her memory of the recent conversation he had overheard. “How’d you hurt yourself?”<br/>His pink haired sister looked down at her leg, covered in the blanket of the medical bed, “I don’t remember much,” she answered, “but I was walking through the garden, when…” her brow crinkled, “a guard, I think? Had shot me.”<br/>“I see,” Sanji answered, dropping his head, “so I was right after all. We’re all going to die then.”<br/>His sister stared at him for a few minutes as his eyes were transfixed on the basket of food he had prepared for him and Pudding. She propped herself up on the bed, and pushed her hair behind her left ear, “Sanji, you aren’t a mistake, I can vouch for that.”<br/>“Yeah,” he absently responded.<br/>She sighed, it wasn’t getting through to him, “Do you remember Mother?”<br/>His eyes widened, slightly, but he didn’t look up to face her, “What about her?” he said, his voice monotone.<br/>“You know how father is, right?” Reiju began, earning a scowl from her younger brother, “He’s really into science, and had previously worked with Dr. Vegapunk. He likes power, you and I both know that, so for me and you four, he had our mother injected with an enhancer. That would make the babies in her womb turn out a little abnormal, and stronger in endurance. Unfortunately the side-effect to that was that they had no emotions. But, you, Sanji, you’re different.”<br/>Sanji nodded in unwilling confirmation.<br/>“I suppose I have a little bit more of an emotion, and sympathy, because I had a mother in my life.” Reiju shrugged, “but you, Sanji, you were the miracle. Mother had drank a medicine that went against the effects of the drug, hoping that what had happened to me, wouldn’t happen to the others she was pregnant with. It didn’t work for the other three, but it did for you. However that medicine had a side-effect as well, and that’s what caused Mother to die.”<br/>“I already feel bad about that, you don-” Sanji began but was cut off by his sister.<br/>“Don’t you get it?” she asked, “You are the only one that turned out right!”<br/>Sanji stared at her with wide eyes for a moment, as realization dawned his features. His eyes dropped back down to the basket in front of him. The watered down wood splitting away from the edges from being out in the rain. He sighed, “It’s not like it matters anyway,” he stated, and raised his hands so he could look at the cuffs around his wrists, “Father will be notified immediately when I leave, and I’ll get my hands chopped off for that, it’s not like I’ll get far.”<br/>Reiju leaned forward on the bed, so that she could get closer to him, though he was still a distance away, “They won’t notify father.” she smiled, faintly, “I suppose that’s my last gift to you as your older sister.”<br/>“What do you mean?”<br/>“I switched them out for different ones,” she explained, “you obviously want to go back to your friends, so go.”<br/>“I can’t do that! You’ll die!”<br/>“Do you know all the things we did?” Reiju smiled, faintly, “I think we all deserve it.” she smiled a bit wider, “But you don’t Sanji. You deserve caring friends that look out for you, and want to be with you. Who travel long lengths just to bring you back, because they're worried. You deserve someone who doesn’t care that he’ll die if he stays in the same spot, in enemy territory, waiting for someone.”<br/>“You deserve good things, too, Reiju!” Sanji exclaimed.<br/>“I met Luffy before,” Reiju smiled, ignoring her brother’s exclamation, “he’s a good kid. And, he definitely cares about you.”<br/>“Reiju!” Sanji nearly screamed.<br/>“Sanji, I’ve made my choice.” Her smile was wide, caring, and hopeful, “so you make yours.”<br/>Sanji stared at his sister, his mouth moving to speak, but only found his mouth dry, and without words to tell. He hung his head, finding this argument pointless, and picked up the basket, before leaving the room. He walked a few ways into the hall, and found a bench to rest at. The cushions seemed inviting, and he found himself slouching in them. He could. He could leave, but if he did then his sister would die. But if he stayed, then he would die. He dropped his head, Pudding wanted to kill him. Had their relationship before not meant anything to her? Had she been lying to him the whole time?<br/>His hands shook as he placed the basket on the floor between his legs, the gold cuffs around his wrists caught his attention. Reiju had switched them. His father, Judge, wouldn’t be notified if he left. He couldn’t get the bangles off, but he would be safe from having the most precious things to him cut away from him. Forcing him to no longer be able to cook, and enjoy the way his friends looked at him when they ate his food. They way Luffy cheered, exclaiming how the meat was the best he ever tasted. The way Usopp enjoyed scarfing on the green lettuce of his salad. The way Brook liked the taste of his mint tea. The way Robin liked her cucumber sandwiches cut. The way Franky would gulp down his homemade coca cola. The way Chopper would drool at the sugary treats. The way Nami would admire the orange tang. How Zoro never left the table without a swig of sake.<br/>He liked the way they looked. He liked the way their smiles widened. He enjoyed it. He lived for it. Cooking in general, not just the look of his friends. But then, he ruined it. He pushed that smiling face away with his own foot. Flung him across the field. He kicked him unconscious. The way Luffy’s eyes looked when he slammed his heel into the crown of his black haired head was ever etched into his memory. Luffy wasn’t telling him he wouldn’t go. He was telling him ‘you’re ready to leave.’ Or that’s what it felt like. Luffy wasn’t that emotionally intelligent, was he? He picked up the basket, and opened the bento to look at the food he had made for him and Pudding.<br/>I made too much, he sighed, noticing how he made the usual amount for hanging out with Luffy and the boy’s friends. His eyes then roamed all of the things he had made, and he realized that he couldn’t just leave him alone in the field, This is all of their favorite things. He heard the commotion around the hall. People running past on both entrances to the abandoned area. They were exclaiming things like ‘don’t let him escape!’ and ‘I think he went that way!’ But he paid it no mind, as his eyes were trained to the different foods he had prepared. I made all of their favorite things.<br/>“Ooh! This looks tasty!” A grabby hand reached over and picked up the meat that Sanji had so elegantly made, and flavored.<br/>His eyes widened as he recognized the same person in the army he passed on the way to the castle. They had been heading straight for where he had last heard the black haired idiot, “Don’t touch that!” he exclaimed, kicking the man in the gut, and grabbing the meat as it flew in the air.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I don't really have much to say on this one, so I hope you all just enjoy it!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0039"><h2>39. Meet Him</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>still third-person limited: Sanji's POV, fyi.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The man was unconscious, lying against the wall. Sanji gasped, realizing what he had just done, but not because he kicked the man, he could care less about that. It was the meat. He kicked the man because he had grabbed the meat. It was ridiculous. He wasn’t the type of person to deny someone their food, but he did, harshly. Though he knew that it wasn’t just because it was meat, it was because it was the food he had unintentionally made for his friends. It was their favorite dishes that lay in the bento box.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He carefully packed the meat back into the box, and closed the lid. He grasped his fingers around the white splintered handle of the basket, and rushed off. He could hear the commotion in the halls, the soldiers calling out calls of worry to the man he had kicked, and he slipped back into his quarters, which, luckily, were close by. He briefly took notice of a figure sleeping in the bed, before he opened the large glass windows and looked down. He was only in the second story, he could make it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cautiously he took a step through the sill, and placed his black soled shoe onto the roof. It was slick because the rain still poured down onto the tiles, but he kept a firm, deathly grip on the basket, as he closed the windows behind him, and jumped off the roof. His strong legs cushioned his landing, and his flexibility helped him from breaking an ankle. He wasn’t as flexible as Luffy, it was obvious, but if all he did in a fight was kick, his flexibility was above the average man’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Before making sure he had any injuries himself, he checked to make sure the basket wasn’t destroyed. Other than the before wear and tear of the rain, the white wood of the basket hadn’t changed much. He heaved a sigh of relief, before running into the rain back toward that same spot he remembered Luffy’s voice so clearly say he would be waiting.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji knew Luffy. He knew him better than Nami did. The boy was no coward. And he never lied. He wouldn’t leave. Luffy would wait. He would wait, and wait, and wait. He would starve to death waiting because that was the kind of guy he was, when it came to his friends. His friends. Luffy knew his friends. Sometimes Sanji was sure the black haired idiot knew them better than they knew themselves, he could just vividly remember the way Luffy had taken care of Robin’s pursuers, while knowing full well that him and Zoro would help take care of the rest.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew that when they were being chased, that if he sent Zoro with Robin they’d get to safety. He knew that if he sent Sanji off to go and keep Momo and Chopper safe from Doflamingo, they’d be safe. He knew that Sanji wouldn’t lose to Big Mom when they had followed them on their way to Zou. He knew. Luffy knew. And as much as he hated to admit it, after beating the life out of his captain, Sanji knew that Luffy was right.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His feet slipped upon the muddy grass, the basket flying away from his grasp. How could he lose his footing? His legs were strong, they could handle the slippery slope. His eyes widened as he saw the top latch of the basket come undone. The bento would begin to get wet from the rain, and that salty water would seep through the cracks, and ruin the food. He scampered to his feet, and rushed over to hurriedly close the top of the basket. The food couldn’t get ruined.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He knew it was. He knew the food he had made had been long since ruined as he stood in the rain for what felt like hours just trying to light a cigarette to lift his spirits. He reached the top of the hill. The field that he had seen Luffy last was right there before him, but it was harder to say where he saw the black haired straw hat wearing kid. The place was scattered with people as if it were the remains of a battlefield. Had Luffy beaten them all? No, there were less there than what had gone to him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hurried down the hill, his feet continuously losing their footing, but his grip on the basket was as strong as ever. He stopped at the bottom, and glanced around at everyone. There were too many people, how was he to find Luffy? He eyed the very spot he knocked the man out, and rushed over to whoever was by it. This was where he had yelled at him. This was where he had said he’d wait, so where was he? He didn’t die already, did he? No, Luffy was strong, he’d hold out, even if he felt like he was dying, he’d push on to survive.</span>
</p><p><span>Sanji was out of breath when he reached the spot, and he gripped the shirt of the person there, and flipped them over, no, not Luffy. He turned around, and saw someone half buried in a large puddle of water. </span><em><span>Luffy!</span></em><span> His feet scampered over to him, his hands reaching out to grab him. He pulled the white fabric of the shirt, </span><em><span>damn it!</span></em> <em><span>Where are you?</span></em><span> He dropped the man back into the water. What was it that Luffy always wore, without a shadow of a doubt? His straw hat? Where was he? Where was that straw hat?</span></p><p>
  <span>Sanji eyed the straw waving in the wind, and began to dart, not caring about how his lungs crashed against his ribcage, screaming at him to stop. To take a break, to breathe. His feet slowed as he came closer, the straw hat on the man didn’t have a red ribbon. Still, not seeing another option, he frantically lifted up the man, only to find the disgusting face of one of the soldiers. He dropped the man again, and looked around some more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The rain got worse, he couldn’t find him. He was gone. There was no where he could have been, other than his straw hat, and black hair there wasn’t much he could do to find him. His mind couldn’t even remember what color his shirt was. Were his pants red? Or black? Another straw hat, another failure. He wasn’t there. Where was he? Under the rubble? Half-buried in the mud? His feet were sore from running all the way around the field, but he didn’t care. His chest aches from not having time to breathe. His breath wavered as it hit the wet air. His hair was flat against his face as sweat and rain dripped down the blond strands onto his clothes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>What was something that Luffy would do? Where would he be? His eyes darted around the field again. No where. He wasn’t anywhere. Luffy was gone. </span>
  <em>
    <span>No, that’s not possible. Luffy wouldn't just leave like that. He promised. He said he’d be there. Why wasn’t he?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Though he also didn’t blame him. How could he? The boy had experienced a lot of betrayal in his life, he had experienced a lot of pain. It would hurt him, Sanji was sure, but he was used to it. Besides, too much water seemed to weaken him, of course he would take shelter. He wouldn’t wait for some food that his ex-friend would be bringing him. He wouldn’t wait for food from the man who kicked him unconscious.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A sound drifted into his ears as he stood staring at the mess of people. His head snapped around. As a cook he’d recognize it anywhere. As a survivor he’d experienced it. The sound of someone’s hungry stomach. A growl. How come he didn’t hear it before? The rain was pelting his head, his back, his arms, but he didn’t care as he ran to where the sound was coming from. What else would he be able to do. That was his best bet for finding Luffy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It might be someone else, it might not be who he wanted it to be. But Luffy would wait for him, his previous doubts about it were vanishing in his mind. Even if Luffy wasn’t there. He wanted him to be. He wanted him to be there. Maybe it was just his brain telling him that was the sound of his captain’s hungry stomach. But he wanted to bet on that hope. He wanted it to be right, even if it was a trick of his ears in the mixture of the pelting rain. Luffy was worn out, had he really not eaten. There was everything in him telling him that Luffy would have probably eaten something, he couldn’t go anywhere without doing so. But there was a bigger sense telling him that Luffy would wait. He would wait, and wait, and wait, no matter what other people had said to him. He was the kind of man who kept his promises. He didn’t go back on his word. If he had the slightest doubt that he wouldn’t be able to withhold that promise, it would be like he was lying, and you could tell by the way his face would twist, as if not used to the act of illusionary words.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami’s words rang in his head as he felt himself coming closer and closer to the source of the noise, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Sanji-kun, stop! It’s alright! We’ll Leave!”</span>
  </em>
  <span> a doubt, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Sanji-kun! Luffy’s been fighting all night!”</span>
  </em>
  <span> another one. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Luffy hasn’t eaten all day! He’s exhausted!”</span>
  </em>
  <span> A hope. Even if it hurt him to know that his friend, hadn’t eaten a single thing, the knowledge that he hadn’t eaten somehow convinced him that Luffy’d be there. Luffy’d wait for him. </span>
  <em>
    <span>“You can kick me, and hurt me all you want! But I’m not the one feeling the pain! You’re the one feeling the pain! I’m gonna stay here! I’m gonna wait for you! I’m not gonna leave this spot until you come! I’m not gonna eat any cooking, any food besides yours! If you don’t come, I’m gonna starve to death!”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Sanji knew it. It hurt him to kick him. Luffy’s words were right. He’d wait for him. He’d wait, and he’d wait, even if it meant that he couldn’t become who he had promised to be. Even if it forced him to put aside his own dreams. His own desires. He’d wait. He’d wait for his friend to show up. He’d wait for him to be there. And when Sanji would meet up with him again, he wouldn’t receive a harsh captain’s scolding, he’d receive a friendly smile. A smile that told him that they were still friends. A smile that yelled at him that they’d always be friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His feet came to a stop as he looked at the source of the sound. Under a tree that had fallen, though he didn’t know of what source, there it was. With eyes closed, head hanging, a hand on the source as if begging for something to soothe it. Hair dripping down his tanned face, his legs sprawled out in front of him, the wood on his sandals splintered, and probably making scratch marks into the bottoms of his feet. His white shirt stained beige from the mud and the rain. The red marked with stained blood. His wrists were torn, the dried blood washing off them as the rain pelted down onto his sleeping figure.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It pained him to see the bits of his flesh gnawed off of his smooth skin. The straw hat pressed between the bark of the tree and his exhausted back. His skin was sunken in, as if he hadn’t eaten in ages, but that was his metabolism. He wanted to hug him, to thank him for waiting, but he couldn’t. Not when he saw what he had gone through. For some reason, the bites on his wrists weren’t as obvious as the large burn scar across his chest. For two years that scar had been there. As soon as he knew where he had gotten it, he could only hope to understand that pain. But somehow, he did now. Even if it wasn’t the same, he could only hope that this friend of his that he viewed like a younger brother, had his own brothers not been so cruel and ruined his image of brotherhood, had been in pain. The feeling he had felt from kicking him in the gut. Kicking him in the very spot that was a constant reminder to him of what had happened, hurt him to no end.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji didn’t know him for very long, but he was attached. He would do nearly anything to save him. He did. He saved him from drowning when they first met. The man was weak to water, and it showed as soon as he was soaked in it. He couldn’t swim. And that was why he dived in to save him. He was certain he had seen him before, but he couldn’t name it. It had been two years since he had worked at that branch of the Baratie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His feet hesitantly stepped forward, a smile present on his face, his eyes glossy as he looked over the exhausted man. “Luffy,” he let his voice speak.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sry, we'll be getting back to Nami soon enough! But out of all of Sanji's moments, this one was the most impactful for me, so that's why I decided to do these parts from Sanji's perspective. Ntm, it was a "tragic" moment, and for some reason, I tend to write a lot of those.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0040"><h2>40. Awake</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sanji's POV, still</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Luffy’s head slowly lifted, weak, sickly. He opened his eyes, and they hazily stared at Sanji. A smile stretched across his face. A smile ever so present. A smile that Sanji had known he would see. It was a guarantee. That was what Luffy did. A weak voice spoke out, a voice that wasn’t as cheerful and energetic as it usually was. Sanjii had to strain his ears in order to hear it from his distance and through the rain still pelting down on them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji,” Luffy called, “you brought food!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji meekly walked over and placed the tattered basket down, “It won’t taste good.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy accepted the basket, and opened it up. Sanji stepped away, ashamed to show the disaster of food to the boy who lived for it. He walked back to his safe distance away from him, and sat down in the muddy grass. He didn’t care if it ruined his attire, he didn’t care if they found him out here. But he couldn’t bear seeing the look of disappointment run across Luffy’s face as he stared down at the rain, mud, and grass messed up dishes in the bento box. The bottle of sake had fallen out along the way, probably shattered against a rock, or tumbled out of the basket.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You made all our favorite foods.” he heard behind him. And he dropped his head. </span>
  <em>
    <span>How could he tell?</span>
  </em>
  <span> The food was a mess, it wasn’t even really edible, there were probably rocks mixed in with what looked like meat and salad. The sandwiches were probably dressed with mud instead of the savory taste of condiment he used, to balance out the sweet flavor of the cucumber.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, Sanji!” a cheerful, yet still weak voice rang behind him, as it chewed through the watered down meat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You don’t have to eat it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s really good!” Luffy replied, still with the meat in his mouth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! No it’s not, Luffy!” Sanji cried, “It’s not. It’s a mess.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I messed up. I’m a mess, I’m sorry, I didn’t make you good food, I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji.” Luffy interrupted, and Sanji looked around to see his smiling face, “I love your food, it’s delicious!”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Did you make this for me? It’s delicious, Sanji!”</span>
  </em>
  <span> the motherly voice of his late mother passed through Sanji’s mind. “No, Luffy, you don’t have to eat that, I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s really good, Sanji.” Luffy replied, before scarfing down the rest of it, having suddenly gotten a boost of energy, “I’m glad you’re okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji’s eyes widened, he couldn’t believe he was saying that. After what he had done to him, after the way he looked. He should be telling him that. He should be apologizing for what he did. There was no point in beating him up the way he did. He didn’t have to go that far. Nami had been right, he should have stopped. His eyes began to water again, but he pushed it aside, and hung his head, “How can you say that? After what I did to you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re my friend, Sanji.” Luffy replied, a simple answer. One that wouldn’t make much sense to anyone else, but to Sanji, it meant an entirely different thing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Sanji yelled back at him, “I kicked you! I wasn’t listening! You didn’t even fight me back, and I still hurt you! I-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy cut him off again, “But you’re my friend, Sanji. I know you were hurting. But you’ll come back with us now, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You still want me?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Sanji wanted to ask, but his mouth didn’t move, he looked into Luffy’s wide, and curious eyes, awaiting his answer, and yet, he couldn’t say exactly what was on his mind, “Luffy, I want to, but my family is in danger. They’ll die. I have to be here. I have to stay here, Luffy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Pain. His cheek burned with it. Luffy had punched him. Luffy had punched him right in the cheek. His teeth rattled as he fell back from the force. Luffy was standing now, his clothes in tatters, and his bruises and cuts only more evident on his body. His chest heaved, as he still was in a weakened state, but his face was angry. Upset. It was the face that Sanji had expected to see when he met up with him again. It was the face that he only saw a few times, to very few people. Though none of those were real enemies, Sanji had to admit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bullshit! Tell me what you want, Sanji!” Luffy yelled, “What do </span>
  <em>
    <span>you </span>
  </em>
  <span>want, Sanji!?”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What I want?</span>
  </em>
  <span> Sanji repeated in his head, and his bottom lip began to quiver. He stared at the face of the man he called captain. It wasn’t upset at him for beating the crap out of him, it wasn’t upset because he said he wouldn’t fulfill his dream. It was upset because he could tell he wasn’t telling him the truth. It didn’t happen often, Sanji admitted, Luffy was dense, he was gullible, and naive, but when it came to his friends, he seemed to know exactly what they wanted before they did. Luffy’s brows were furrowed, and he was heaving. There was still some blood on his wrists, and Sanji noticed some dried blood under his bangs, as they waved in the sudden gust of wind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I…” Sanji began as he stared down again, unable to look at Luffy in the eyes. “I want to go back with the Sunny!” he cried. His tears fell down his cheeks again, as he was finally able to express what he had felt. What he had been feeling for a while, ever since he had agreed to leave with them from Zou, to come here, ever since he had left Nami screaming at him. Yet it had resurfaced when he had seen that smiling face calling out to him, calling to him with a cheerful attitude.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I want to go back with you guys!” Sanji cried again, “yet, they’re all gonna die! They hate me! They beat me up! They don’t appreciate me, and yet!” Sanji couldn’t believe he was saying this, but his voice was yelling his own thoughts and feelings to the one person he trusted like no one else, “I save them, too!” he cried.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He glanced up to see Luffy’s frown turn into a soft smile. He took in all the details of his face, and saw the caring eyes, as that simplet smile turned to a full on grin, “Of course you do,” he said, “cause you’re Sanji.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji couldn’t say anything. Luffy was too kind for his own good. That caring smile of his was too endearing. He appreciated Luffy more than anyone could possibly know, and yet, here he was, staring face to face with him, having that same person tell him that it was alright. It was okay to be the mistake his family thought he was. It was okay to be caring, and forgiving. It was okay to go ahead and save them. It was okay. It was okay to be Sanji.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s go crash a wedding!” Luffy smiled, eagerly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji’s lips twitched into a smile. The tears still running down his face, but as if the rain had sensed the sudden shift in mood, the clouds began to disperse, and the beautiful light of the morning sun began to shine down on them, the light glistening off of Sanj’s golden wet locks of hair, and reflecting off water droplets on Luffy’s arms. It was nice. It was nice to see the sun again. It was nice to view the light as it shone on Luffy’s smiling face. That face of pure innocence. The face that wanted whatever was best for everyone he called his friends.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The moment was interrupted by the light ringing of a phone. Luffy’s phone, as they glanced around to see if they could find it. It must have fallen out of his pocket whenever the army had attacked them, or whenever he had kicked him multiple times. The black haired young adult, the owner of the phone, wasn’t as concerned about what had happened in the past as he found the phone, and picked it up, answering the call, and putting it on speaker.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Chopper!” He exclaimed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy! Thank goodness you’re alright!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy laughed, “Sanji is, too!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji?” Nami’s voice rang through the phone, and Sanji’s eyes widened.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami-san?” he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, it really is you, Sanji.” Nami replied, “I’m never going to forgive you for what you did.” they were harsh. Harsh words for anyone, but especially for Sanji. He had known her already for two years, and had spent countless amounts of days with her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re gonna crash a wedding!” Luffy exclaimed, as if that was like they were attending the party.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Really?” Nami stated, her attention drawn away from Sanji again, and back to Luffy, “Luffy, are you alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep!” Luffy laughed, “Are you guys alright?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, we’re fine. Jinbei said we’re gonna meet you over at Bege’s fortress at the base of the castle’s back entrance, before the castle starts to wake up. Bring Sanji.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay!” Luffy cheered into the phone, before it hung up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji couldn’t believe it. Was it really this </span>
  <em>
    <span>easy</span>
  </em>
  <span> to make up with Luffy. Was it really that </span>
  <em>
    <span>simple</span>
  </em>
  <span>? The boy was as chill as ever, as if the whole kicking in the gut thing didn’t happen. As if everything that had happened only what felt like a few hours ago didn’t happen. It was amazing. Luffy was amazing. He admitted it multiple times in his head, but never would he do so out loud. Even if he never needed to apologize in the first place for Luffy to forgive him, he still would have. He looked into the large dark eyes of the man staring at him, as if waiting for him to respond to whatever he had said. Sanji nodded, which must have been the right response, cause the dark haired man child leaped into the air, before exclaiming very loudly, “Let’s go!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji smiled, as he followed the man in his run to the address that Nami had sent him via text. Luffy spinning around as he ran, happy to see his friend again, “Yeah.” Sanji mumbled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they were nearing the address, Sanji glanced down at the wrists of the man running beside him, and noticed how badly </span>
  <em>
    <span>bitten</span>
  </em>
  <span> they were, “Luffy,” he stated, causing the addressed man to turn his head to look at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Who bit your arms?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As they ran, Luffy lifted his arms up, to look at them, before laughing. Sanji was surprised, but maybe he had gotten into a fight with some dog, and provoked it or something, but what Luffy said surprised him even more, “I did!” he stated, with a huge smile on his face, his breathing no longer even with the running and the laughter pouring out of his throat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sanji stopped, which made Luffy turn around and stop as well, “You…” he began before he rushed up and grabbed the arms of his so-called captain, “were you </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> hungry!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy looked confused, as he watched Sanji inspect his wrists, he smiled, again, “No, I’m not gonna eat my arms, Sanji!” he giggled, “you’re funny!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then, why!” Sanji let go of his arms, letting them fall to the sides of their owner.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I had to get out of the prison, and save both you and Nami somehow.” Luffy pouted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What happened!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy turned his head back to look at Sanji, “I went back and waited!” Luffy exclaimed, as if defending himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” a high pitched boy’s voice broke their conversation, and Luffy turned his head to see Chopper waving at him from the front door of a large fortress-like mansion.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chopper!” Luffy exclaimed, waving his hand at him as well.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>WHAT! Two chaps, today? Wow! What a way to go!<br/>Hehe, these were already written like, two months ago, I just finally gotten around to posting them...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0041"><h2>41. Reunited</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Third-Person Limited: Nami's POV, again! It'll be like this for a little longer, much to your relief, I'm sure!!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Chopper yelled, looking out the window of the place they were staying at.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy’s here already?” Nami asked, before pushing Chopper over and peering out the window, “Ah, it’s Luffy!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And Sanji-san!” Brook exclaimed over her shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Chopper hurried around to the door, and she watched from her seat as he swung the door open. He was about to yell, his hand raised into the air, and she stared at him, for a bit wondering why he didn’t call him, when she heard Luffy’s voice outside, “No, I’m not gonna eat my arms, Sanji! You’re funny!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was true, he kept spitting out his own flesh so that no form of food would be able to satisfy his hunger. Her mind automatically tuned out Sanji’s voice, and trained to hear whatever answer Luffy had come up with for why he began biting his wrists off. It was painful to be in the same room as he did it. His blood had pooled over to her, and she began suddenly aware of how much blood he had lost, “Chopper,” she stated, rising from her seat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I had to get out of the prison, and save both you and Nami somehow.” Luffy’s voice stopped her from stepping closer to the teen.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I had to… save… Nami somehow”</span>
  </em>
  <span> Her mind selected the words as she thought them over in her head. It was true though, she realized. Although he might have begun biting his arms off to get out of the prison and get to Sanji, he had told her to bite her wrists off as well so they could both get out. But then, when she was about to die. When she had literal minutes to live, she remembered him yelling at her that he would bite his wrists off within that time. It didn’t make sense to her, and yet, it did. He wasn’t the type of person to really think about a way to get them both out safely. He had noticed the cuffs were on his wrists, and knew he had to get them off, so the only option was to bite off what was keeping them on, his wrists.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Chopper’s voice broke through her thoughts. She had missed the rest of the conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Chopper!” Luffy called back.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami slouched back into her seat. He was back, and he sounded fine, and yet, she was deathly worried. He had lost so much blood. He hadn’t eaten at all, and he was beaten unconscious. Then ran off, in the castle. Betting on the commotion as they made their way out, he was probably the one that caused it, so he probably had to fight more people, too. But now, here he was. She stared at Chopper in the doorway, as she noticed a silhouette covering some of the sunlight as it approached.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes widened as she saw his figure, he looked </span>
  <em>
    <span>fine</span>
  </em>
  <span>. But was he really? His smile on his face as he hugged the teen was so pure. His wrists effectively hidden behind the doctor’s back in an embrace. Sanji came up after him, and she rose from her seat. She didn’t want to face him. She turned around, and headed off with Bege’s wife to the bath. As long as she had known him, she blamed him for everything he did to Luffy. Everything that had happened to Luffy, since Zou, was all </span>
  <em>
    <span>his</span>
  </em>
  <span> fault.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She submerged herself in the bath with Carrot, and Bege’s wife sat a little ways away scrubbing her son. “You had mentioned something about meeting me before?” the woman stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah,” Nami replied, “But you aren’t Lola, are you?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lola?” she repeated, and received a nod from the orange haired woman, “No, she’s my twin.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see,” Nami nodded, before squeezing some shampoo into the palm of her hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How’d you meet Lola?” she asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She was the person that had advised me to move into Sabaody,” Nami replied, “I’m honestly really grateful for her. I haven’t seen her since though.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yea,” Bege’s wife, Chiffon, stated with a faint smile, “She moved away in search of finding her own husband,” she sighed, “she was really good at making chocolates, she always stirred them with a giant staff having complete control of the contents.”</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Is that really what reminded Big Mom of her when she heard of me?</span>
  </em>
  <span> “Find her own husband?” Nami asked for elaboration.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” Chiffon smiled, as she rubbed her child’s back with soap, “Mama always picks out our husbands and wives for us, but I love Bege.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Is it alright, then?” Nami asked, “for you to be going against her with us?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve suffered a lot of pain from Mama, just because I look like Lola.” she stated, “so I don’t mind what Bege is doing. I’ll support him in it.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see,” Nami stated, and ducked her soapy head under the water to wash all of the shampoo out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her heels clicked down the hallway as she made her way to the room where they were to have the major meeting Jinbei was able to work out for them. She still didn’t know why she was here, but somehow she was dragged into the whole mess. It hurt her to know that Luffy would still end up fighting, and still end up with injuries, but she would trust that he wouldn’t die. He wouldn’t just leave her like that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She turned a corner and noticed the blond hair of her old friend coming out of the dressing room designated for the men. Her soft smile in thinking of Luffy was replaced by the scowl in seeing him. It wasn’t possible for her to ignore him if he was in the way of her getting to the meeting room, besides, he’d be in the room anyway. She’d have to meet up with him again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami-san!” He exclaimed, with a cheerful smile, upon making eye contact with her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sanji.” she stated, her scowl ever evident on her face. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad you’re alright!” he smiled, and began to walk toward her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m </span>
  <em>
    <span>never</span>
  </em>
  <span> going to forgive you for what you’ve done.” she stated, as she passed him, not even stopping for him, “It’s unforgivable.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She continued on her trek to the meeting room, leaving him standing there. </span>
  <em>
    <span>He shouldn’t be all cheery with me after he had slammed Luffy’s face to the ground.</span>
  </em>
  <span> She thought to herself as she turned the corner again to open the doors to the large meeting room. It was full of people, some she recognized were there when they had taken Sanji, and there was one man that she wanted to smash his head in for what he had done to those poor children, and caused her to meet up with Law in the first place. Maybe she had come in too early. She closed the doors again, seeing that they hadn’t noticed her yet, and went back down the way she had come. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jinbei met her in the hall, “Waiting for the rest?” he asked. He was adorning the traditional japanese garb that she had seen him in before, though it had been washed, and ironed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, kinda awkward walking in there alone.” she agreed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah! You were over here!” Carrot exclaimed, jumping onto Nami and giving her a huge hug. Her soft cheeks rubbing against the orange haired woman’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We haven’t been apart for long.” Nami replied, gently pushing the rabbit obsessed woman off of her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nami!” Chopper exclaimed, and ran up to her, “I’m glad you waited!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi Chopper,” Nami stated, “Is Luffy okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I patched his wrists up for him.” Chopper nodded, before glancing around, “Pedro and Sanji aren’t here yet?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Neither are Brook and Luffy,” Nami continued.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“They went to get milk,” Chopper explained, before noticing two blond headed men coming their way, “Ah, Pedro! Sanji!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Still waiting on Luffy?” Sanji asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami turned away from him, huffing like a child.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sorry to keep you waiting!” Luffy exclaimed, running toward them with Brook behind him, “The milk was just so good! And then there was meat! And -”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Luffy!” Nami interrupted upon seeing him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ah!” Luffy exclaimed in response, backing away from her, on noticing her stern glare at him, “I’m sorry!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad you’re alright.” she smiled, on realizing her expression hadn’t softened from seeing Sanji.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yep!” Luffy responded, with a smile, “Let’s go!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They followed him as he pushed open the door, and triumphantly went around to the couch and sat down. A huge frown on his face as he did so, trying to look serious. Nami sat down beside him, her tight, thigh-length red dress matching his red blazer, and shorts. He still adorned his sandals, but he did look good in a suit in tie, she had to admit. His straw hat was covered by a black fedora, with a thick velvet black band above its rim.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You Bege?” he asked, looking at someone across the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, Luffy,” Nami stated.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You Bege?” Luffy repeated, looking at someone else. He shook his head. Luffy looked at Chiffon’s baby, “you Bege?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course not!” Nami stated, holding in the urge to smack him upside the head, “he isn’t here, yet.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, okay.” Luffy stated, as he lifted one leg to rest its ankle on his knee.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>While they were waiting for the man that had taken Sanji away, Nami grabbed one of Luffy’s arms and brought it over her lap, as she ran her fingers gently along the bandages. She glared at Sanji, before fixing her gaze back to the white bandage on his wrist. Why’d he have to go biting off his hands like that. He’d get stitches on them, and then they’d leave a scar. Without turning her head she sent hers eyes over to Luffy. He wasn’t looking at her, but she was sure he had been when she had taken a hold of his forearm.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why’d you do it?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His attention turned from the food being placed on the table to meet her eyes, “Do what?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Why’d you think biting your wrists off was a good idea?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Luffy pulled his arm away from her gently, before turning back to the food, “What other choice did I have?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nami opened her mouth to say something, but it disappeared along with the food that had been placed on the table. She crossed one leg over the other, and folded her arms under her bosom. She kept a sturdy gaze at the man coming into the room. She was right, Bege was the one who had taken Sanji. While Sanji was at fault for what had happened to Luffy, Bege was also to blame. Had he not taken Sanji, Luffy would never have had to experience all the pain he did because of Sanji.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Straw Hat Luffy.” Bege announced, and Luffy’s attention grew serious. “I was hoping we could make an alliance.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Because I couldn't just not bring Nami back into the picture. Like seriously, who do the heck do you think I am?<br/>A cliff-hanger enthusiast.<br/>Hehe, you're right about that. Do you think this is a cliff-hanger? Please say yes! It'll be great to know! Yas! Thanks for your feedback, it means the world to me!!!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I hope you enjoyed it, there's more to come!<br/>Find me on tumblr! https://lissyart101.tumblr.com/</p></blockquote></div></div>
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